Clandestine
by TheFirstTrio
Summary: Vanitas hated weakness. He loathed being weak and appearing weak. Ventus was weak and he had no desire to re-merge with something so pathetic. So when he saw her, he knew she had to be the one. He would lead her into the darkness.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One: Rejecting**_

' _Dignity is the moment you realize that no one is your enemy, except yourself.' –Unknown_

* * *

Cold.

That was the very first thing he felt when he came to. It was this horrible feeling of ice oozing in his veins and through his heart, which hurt as well. There was one thing he was already sure of: he didn't like this feeling of the cold void that was within him. It made him feel both afraid and angry all at once.

But why was he not able to see? Was he sleeping or was he blind? Fear bubbled up in his…form. He would much rather be sleeping than be blind. Did he not have a body? But how could he feel if he didn't have a body? There were so many emotions clashing with one another, each seeking to be the champion with his heart, to be the one that reigned supreme.

However, fear was the one that won out for now. He wanted to see! He wanted to escape this black void around him, to touch and feel. He wanted to live!

Suddenly, the blackness around him faded, allowing him to stretch his body excitedly. Of course, he realized he was airborne, but he was no longer afraid. So long as he had legs, so long as he could see, he wasn't going to let some height make him be afraid.

No, he had come to the conclusion that it wasn't the darkness that made him afraid. He feared the _powerlessness_ that had been associated with not being able to move, to not being able to see.

He feared _helplessness._

As he exercised his power so he could float down lazily to the dusty, wind-swept, lifeless plains below— _where had this well of strength come from, anyways?_ —the boy took the time to inspect his surroundings so he could figure out where in the Hell he was.

' _Well, this isn't Hell, but it sure ain't far from it,'_ he thought as his hidden eyes looked around. All he could see for miles was towering pillars of stone, worn by age and wind. There was no plant life, no green, no color. There were also great tears in the ground, signs of a mighty battle—or more correctly, series of battles. Smashed towers, ruined features, and dark burn marks could be seen both close by and far away. This place screamed of pain as well, like thousands of lives had been lost here and the pain they felt was trapped in the very wind.

By now, he had decided he didn't like this place much. Not because of the feeling of pain and misery that seemed to permeated even the very ground and air, but because this was boring. Boring like studying one's hand boring.

Speaking of which, which did his hands look like? What did _he_ even look like?

Looking at himself would have to wait a moment because right now he had realized two people were in front of him. He would inspect them first and then go from there. One step at a time, right?

One was an elderly man, but he could sense the sickening level of power contained within that feeble looking body. He was bald except for thin eyebrows and a curled, silver goatee, with pointed ears and piercing yellow eyes. He had broad, hunched shoulders and a crooked back. His attire consisted of a white and black coat with a red inner lining, which was worn over a white shirt with two thin black belts. The man wore white gloves, covering his hands from the harshness of the land. There were black cloth pants and calf-high black boots to complete the picture before him.

Before he could inspect the other person, a boy around his age, the man spoke in gravel, rough voice that could make babies cry.

"Empty creature from Ventus riven...to you, the name Vanitas shall be given," the man said with a slight growl, making the newly christen 'Vanitas' bristle in anger. How dare he think he could name him? He wasn't empty, either, judging from all the rage that now bubbled up in his heart. And didn't care how strong this guy was, he was not going to let anyone boss him around!

"Really, old man? You see me and that's the first thing you think? If we judged books by their covers, _I_ would think you're a stripper who's been out of the business too long and is trying to get back in," Vanitas sneered at the ancient man before him, watching with dark enjoyment as anger twisted the man's face. He was going to have to remember that one for future references.

Vanitas quickly came to regret the words that had rushed unfiltered from his mouth because the moment he back talked, the old man summoned a rather deadly looking weapon he hadn't spotted when he was running his mouth.

A weapon which now was smashing into the helmet Vanitas was wearing. Vanitas rolled for a good fifty feet from the overwhelming powerful blow, his entire world spinning as he started to slide along his back. As he came to a halt, Vanitas found a foot pressing down painfully on his chest, rewarding his attacker with a groan of pain mixed in with coughing and sputtering.

"Now you will keep your mouth shut and listen to me very carefully, _boy,"_ the dark figure towering over Vanitas hissed, grinding his foot painfully into Vanitas's suit. How could such a feeble looking old man be so damn strong?

"Your name is Vanitas; I am your Master. I, Xehanort, created you. Sending you back to nothingness is something I can effortlessly do," Xehanort warned the creature he had forged from half of his pupil's heart. The creature of darkness promptly stiffened up at the threat, clearly understanding Xehanort was fully capable of carrying out his actions. If words didn't do it, then the crackling energy around Xehanort's Keyblade shored up any doubt, concreting the absolute authority in Xehanort's threat.

Finally, Vanitas replied, "…yes, Master." He had no desire to die.

Pleased with Vanitas's submission to his command thus far, Xehanort removed his foot and allowed Vanitas to stand up. Vanitas stood up slowly, body aching from the head-shot he had just endured. He was thankful for his mask because he couldn't get the twisted expression of anger and disgust off of his face.

Did he even have a face? He was still wondering what he even looked like, despite all the hate tearing into him.

"Now, Vanitas, look on the weakness I have cast off of you," Xehanort stated to his new 'pupil,' causing the dark being, who still didn't even know what he looked like fully yet, to shift his gaze over at the motionless body of the young boy from before. Vanitas started to move over to the boy, mostly to inspect him and figure out why he felt a connection to him.

' _Who are you…?'_ Vanitas thought out of curiosity as he used this time to ignore Xehanort.

Vanitas was detailed oriented, oddly enough. He much preferred knowing as much as he could, especially if the object or person held some level of importance to him.

The first thing that caught Vanitas's attention was how _lifeless_ and _pathetic_ the boy's eyes where. Moving along, he noticed the strange jacket the boy wore, with white on the right side, black on the left side, with a red, pleated collar. Underneath this, there was a grey vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. A third layer was under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt.

Over all of this were two crisscrossing straps on his chest, a silver Keyblade Master emblem mounted there. How Vanitas knew what it was—or anything was, frankly—was beyond him. A frown came to Vanitas as he wondered, only briefly, if he had felt cold because this boy was cold. He had to be, wearing three damn layers of clothing in a damn _desert._

There was a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection, with another piece of armor on his left shoulder. His pants were colored in various shades of grey, black, and white. He also wore an ornate, dull green and grey piece of armor on his upper-left arm. And his shoes! Did he just armor some sneakers and call it good?

As Vanitas inspected the boy, in asked a curious tone, "Who is he?"

Xehanort approached Vanitas from behind slowly, de-summoning his Keyblade for now, confident in his control over Vanitas. Answering as he walked, the ancient Keyblade Master replied, "His name is Ventus. You were once apart of him, but he was too weak to utilize the darkness that you are. I separated you from him, giving you life."

Vanitas heard the boy's name and felt something swirl to life in his chest. It was an emotion that made him want to cry. It was sadness at the fact he had been separated from the light, from his other half. However, if Ventus had been weak…

The sadness he was feeling was soon stomped out by much more dark feelings, like a dark pit that swallowed up the weak emotion of sadness. Something shifted in Vanitas's chest, causing his hands to clenched inward, become fists.

Hatred and contempt replaced his sadness and he lashed out on these feelings, kicking the limp form of Ventus roughly, sending the defenseless boy flying through the air. Ventus hit the ground hard twenty feet away, landing with a crunch on his side. He didn't even react to this, making Vanitas even more furious as he couldn't even defend himself he was so weak; just like how he couldn't defend himself from Xehanort's power. He was weak and Vanitas was weak for being from Ventus.

Xehanort came to a halt away from Vanitas as darkness swirled around him, black, purple, and blue tendrils around him like angry snakes. Watching with a cold interested, Xehanort elected to allow an uncontrolled series of events to happen that would further his own plans.

"Then I'm glad you separated me from that waste of human flesh. What a weakling. I can't stand being around him!" Vanitas hissed with fury, summoning his own weapon with a flash of darkness. Vanitas looked at it for a moment, seeing something that gave him a good vibe: a weapon, akin to Xehanorts, but so much _more._

Its name was _Void Gear._

It was his Keyblade, it was a part of his identity. It was red, black, and powerful, matching how Vanitas felt about himself. Its teeth and head were black, with a bloody red outline and possessed a round, cog-like shape. The handle was red while the guard was like a mirror of the teeth. The shaft was predominantly colored with shades of grey, broken up by a copper-colored gear in the center, with two intersecting, black chains wrapped around it. Two more chains were wrapped around the base of the shaft in a similar fashion. Void Gear had eyes too, one located in the head of the blade and one embedded in the hilt. There was a chain is comprised of three small, copper gears and charm at the end resembling two halves of a gear arranged in an S-shape.

"Why was I created, you old coot?" Vanitas demanded from Xehanort, turning to face him as many emotions once again flooded Vanitas's mind. He wanted answers, but Xehanot was silent. The silence only made Vanitas more upset, making him growl loudly, like a predatory cat ready to pounce on his prey. Little did he know, his emotions were about to translate into something much bigger.

Xehanort watched coldly as the creature of darkness started to birth more darkness around, the negative emotions he was feeling creating monsters. Several humanoid beasts with predominantly blue skin appeared around the dark boy, making him look around rapidly. He snarled with anger at the recently spawned things, shouting commands at them, "Get away from me, you scrappy pieces of shit!"

What Vanitas immediately loathed about these guys was those red eyes set in sorrowful expressions. The creatures, rather than run from him, clambered around him like puppies to a mother, only further fueling is anger. With a roar of pure rage, Vanitas began to slice and slash. His swings were vicious and wild, but against opponents that did nothing to defend themselves, it was brutally effective. Cutting down the entire group of monsters, Vanitas saw flecks of darkness spraying from them as the teeth of Void Gear tore into their hides.

He _hated_ these things. They had such expressions of weakness that reminded him of his own weakness and self-loathing. In them, he saw himself and that made him become unhinged. So he hacked and slashed until all the Scrappers were gone.

Vanitas was panting as the monsters faded away, dying into wisps of darkness. He was starting to lose any semblance of patience with what was happening around here! He wanted answers; he wanted understanding, not more confusion. But no one was forthcoming with the things he desire, and that made him further outraged.

Before he could process what had happened with the randomly appearing monsters, a horrible level of pain torn into his chest, making his legs buckle out from under him. Vanitas lost his grip on his precious Void Gear, which clattered on the hard ground next to him. Vanitas toppled onto all fours, screaming in pain as the pain of the monster's death flooded back into his mind.

 _You killed us._

 _We are your creations. Why?_

 _Save us._

 _You did this…_

 _Why? Why? Why? WHY? WHYWHYWHYWHYWHHWYHDH…_

Eventually, the screaming, sorrowful voices of those he had presumably murdered became a high-pitched whining noise that only Vanitas could seem to hear; Xehanort didn't react to the wailing that Vanitas was hearing, as he was only watching with those piercing yellow eyes. His vision darkened as he nearly blacked out from the pain, little dancing blobs of black invading his vision as if to mock him for his weakness.

Soon, he was on his side; dry heaving as he struggled to regain his composure. What had happened there? He didn't understand why he felt so much pain when he had destroyed those things that had appeared around him. What did those voices meant by he had created them? How the Hell did he create them when he knew hardly anything about himself?

A cycle was beginning to take root. The confusion and fear led to anger, which led to rage, hatred, contempt, panic, and many more negative feelings. These overwhelming feelings Vanitas was experiencing formed into monsters, something the highly knowledgeable Xehanort quickly understood, but the newborn Vanitas couldn't even fathom. How could he? Vanitas was like a baby with pre-determined knowledge and instincts, but still lacking understanding. He had so much to learn, but he was learning in a way that could only bred resentment and pain.

Getting onto all fours, the faceless boy fumbled to find and grab his Void Gear. That was his safety, his blanket, the only thing he wanted. Without it, Vanitas felt vulnerable and open to attacks.

Soon, his fingertips brushed against cool metal that tingled with magic, signaling him that he had found his weapon. Grabbing it, Vanitas rose to his feet sluggishly, clutching at his helmet as a migraine began to pound away in his head.

When his hands pulled away from his helmet and he could see clearly again, Vanitas recoiled in horror, irritation, and anger. His eyes didn't deceive him; that much was certain. He was once again surrounded by more monsters, but these ones where different looking than the last batch, with only the blue color they had being the same as the monsters before them. These ones where small in stature, with triangle shaped heads that had a pair of lightning bolt-shaped antenna. They had legs and arms that ended in points, lacking digits all together.

Their eyes looked angry, however, blazing with boiling anger. Their motions matched their expressions: twitchy, jerky, and erratic.

Vanitas didn't even speak this time, letting out a fierce, bestial cry as he leaped at the large group, creating a purple shockwave of darkness that vaporized the monsters instantly upon impact, Void Gear piercing into the ground. The ground was burnt by the explosive force of the attack, darkness peeling away a good hunk of the ground. A smoking crater was left behind after the conclusion of the attack, being several inches deep.

Moments after the newest group of monsters fell by Vanitas's increased display of power, Vanitas was in agony, screaming at the top of his lungs as he tossed his head back. How could he be feeling so much pain while hearing the now furious voices of the dead assaulting him, taunting him, mocking him relentlessly? Vanitas was on the verge of losing his mind.

With a snarl, his attention was back on Master Xehanort. Vanitas tore Void Gear out of the ground with a bellow of rage, murderous intent seizing him. Vanitas was gripping his weapon so hard his bioorganic suit he was clothed in began to tear, revealing black skin under it. He took several shaky steps at the golden eyed man, the dark boy's entire frame quivering with hate, lingering feelings of contempt for his own displays of pain adding to the emotional overload.

"Damn it, old man, give me some answers! I want some answers right now!" Vanitas commanded Master Xehanort, forgoing any pretense of submission to the elderly Keyblade bearer's power. Xehanort watched silently, however, as more monsters, dozens of the small blue monsters and Scrappers, along with a new type that was taller, bottom heavy, blue, and looked a fist fighter, appeared around Vanitas. The newest monster type was much more impressive looking than the previous two monsters, the creatures looking around lazily as they stood towering over the smaller, puny monsters.

' _A superb power, to say the least. Vanitas cannot control the creation of his beasts, born from emotions his newborn heart was never meant to experience so early. However, with some effort, his power can be controlled and be of great use for my ambitions,'_ Xehanort thought as he watched with an icy stare as Vanitas looked around, in a fearful panic, but also clearly on the verge of completely losing his mind to rage and sorrow. Vanitas didn't know what to do to save himself from the monsters, from the weakness, from anything.

All he knew how to do was attack in a blind fear.

Vanitas flung his Keyblade into the nearest large monster, decapitating it instantly and making it exploded into tendrils of darkness. The spinning weapon flew in a downward arc, flying into a mob of small monsters and tearing them to ribbons. Vanitas rushed through the monsters, punching through the chest of a Scrapper, making it go limp on his arm before it faded away rapidly.

Grabbing his weapon as it came back to him, Vanitas was doing his best at ignoring the immense pain that began to course through his body, using the power of darkness to fire off a horizontal wave of black and purple energy. The arching wave smashed through small monsters, ripping off arms and shattering bodies.

The more monsters Vanitas killed, the more pain mounted in his frame.

And this pain continued to increase more and more as Vanitas kept slashing, cutting, punching, kicking, and breaking the monsters around him. No longer was he using magic to kill the beasts he was spawning. Vanitas had regressed into more primal mannerisms, using his Keyblade and bare hands to kill everything round him.

However, it was a losing battle. The negativity of the emotions Vanitas was overflowing with served to spawn more creatures, which Vanitas struggled to cut down fast enough at this point.

More death, more pain, more creation; it was a cycle Vanitas couldn't escape.

And the cruel Xehanort watched, waiting for his chance to swoop in and play savior to the 'poor Vanitas,' setting forth in motion his plans for the almighty X-blade. Vanitas was one key for unlocking the door to the glory beyond. With the X-blade, light and darkness could be in perfect balance, all under one banner.

Vanitas, by now, had slaughtered dozens of monsters, one after another. The sounds of death filled the air, coupled with Vanitas's own furious howls. The dark boy was unaware that he was the source of them, the source of his own suffering. He was his own worst enemy, but he never once thought of this possibility.

Lunging at a large fat 'Bruiser,' his Keyblade drawn back above his head, Vanitas cut the Bruiser in half vertically with Void Gear, the two halves falling in opposite directions of one another. Vanitas looked around, darkness smoking around him like angry storm clouds. He was breathing erratically, shaking with agony and rage, underlying fear just below all this rage.

It was in this one moment that the pain finally became too great.

The pain surged so much that Vanitas collapsed pathetically onto the ground, face first, kicking up a puff of dust as he impacted the ground with a dull thump. His entire body had gone limp, much to his abject horror. Void Gear also disappeared with a puff of darkness, adding to Vanitas's bone chilling fear. He was once again powerless and defenseless.

At first he struggled to get to his feet, to do anything, but when nothing happened, Vanitas did the only thing a baby in the body of a young child could possibly do.

He cried.

He was surrounded by never ending monsters that seemed to not fear him at all. He was in so much _pain._ He was alone, scared, and frightened. He wanted someone to care, to show him a better way. Vanitas wanted someone to tell him he was going to be okay and protect him somehow.

Big, fat tears dripped against the inside of his helmet, as he dared not to show his face to anyone so they could see his tears. But Xehanort watched as Vanitas's body convulsed while he let out powerful sobs; the elderly Keyblade Master knew that Vanitas had broken. He was weak, vulnerable, and ripe for Xehanort's help.

It was time for Xehanort to make his move.

"Dear child, you are in pain, are you not?" Xehanort began as his put on his mask of pity and sadness, gesturing widely with his arms. Vanitas continued to cry as Xehanort spoke, but Xehanort's keen vision didn't miss the sluggish nod from the masked boy. Smiling at this, Xehanort continued his charade of caring for Vanitas's wellbeing.

"If you could, wouldn't you prefer to be free of all the agony, of the misery you are feeling?" Xehanort inquired of Vanitas, who sobbed back weakly, "Y-Yes."

"You want to be powerful, do you not?"

"Yes…" came the reply full of conviction and desire.

"Then, my boy, I can give you all of this and so much more: I will train you and make you strong," Xehanort said with increase fervor, like a priest riding on the emotions of his flock. "And then, you can go and forge the all-powerful X-blade. In the X-blade, you will find your salvation from this dreary universe of weakness and hatred against the dark!"

"But you will be more than that…you shall be everyone's salvation!" Xehanort proclaimed to Vanitas, whose eyes widened unbeknownst to the speaker before him. Vanitas could be _everyone's_ salvation? He could be not only that, but the strongest? All he had to do was train in order to help mold this X-blade?

Vanitas knew he wanted that freedom. He craved it with all the fire in his belly. If he had the X-blade, he would free of anyone's reigns or strings. He would be free and everyone would fear _him;_ respect _him._

This was all Xehanort needed to offer to the weary mind of Vanitas. Getting to his feet with renewed vigor, Vanitas coldly ignored the swarm of creatures around him. Maybe Vanitas had them wrong: maybe, without understanding it, these monsters respected him, hence why they didn't flee him. He had been stomping them out because of a stupid misunderstanding, all because he showed weakness.

"I will create the X-blade, Master. I'll show you I ain't weak like that kid Ventus!" Vanitas stated with conviction, certain of himself. He stood to his full height, re-summoning Void Gear to him. The weapon appeared in his right hand, causing Vanitas to feel much more at ease.

' _If I feel this comfortable with Void Gear, I can only_ _ **imagine**_ _how I will feel with the X-blade,'_ Vanitas thought as he stood calmly before Xehanort. Whatever the future held, while it did make Vanitas anxious and nervous, meant nothing so long as he knew his goal and his purpose.

Xehanort was not showing it as he nodded to Vanitas in mock understanding, but inwardly, he was smiling. It had been so _simple_ to convince this creation of his to work towards the goal of the X-blade. So long as Xehanort had control, Vanitas was nothing more than a puppet. He was already moving to Xehanort's tune.

Looking around, Vanitas's gaze landed on Ventus's motionless form. Ventus hadn't moved at all during recent events, like he had no care in the world. Vanitas felt his stomach twist out of pity and then disgust. How could he have come from that pathetic heap?

Then, for Vanitas, it suddenly clicked.

' _Of course. That stupid, worthless kid is the reason why I'm in pain. Why I am weak. Once he's gone, I can get rid of my weakness…!'_ Vanitas thought with sudden realization, glee filling his heart. Once Ventus was out of the picture, he could reap the full benefits of Xehanort's training. Ventus would only hold him back.

Pointing Void Gear at Ventus, all Vanitas said to Xehanort, roughly at that, "Get him away from me. I don't want that discarded weakling even remotely near me."

Xehanort glanced in curiosity at Ventus, letting out a low hum as he thought about what to do with the blonde. Vanitas did have some point to his accusations, but not in the manner that Xehanort perceived them. Ventus was _far_ too weak for Vanitas to merge with and create the X-blade with; further more, his heart was fractured and the light within was slipping away.

Ventus was dying. Vanitas's darkness would only smother Ventus's dimming light that much faster, expediting the damaged boy's end.

"If that is what you wish, my dear boy. There is a suitable location for Ventus to enjoy his last days, which are few in the making," Xehanort explained to Vanitas while moving over to Ventus, picking the boy up and hefting him over his left shoulder. Piercing eyes settled back onto Vanitas, with Xehanort then ordering him sternly, "You, however, must stay here. Do _not_ leave this area, Vanitas."

Vanitas was fine with this, letting himself rest for now. Flopping down into a sloppy sitting position, the masked boy dismissed Void Gear before gesturing at Ventus with disinterest now. His problem was leaving him, so Vanitas was content for now.

"You don't need to tell me twice, although I would prefer a more comfortable waiting room," Vanitas chimed back at Xehanort, who snorted at the absurd request. With not another word to his newest pupil, although Xehanort used this term only sparingly, the old man called on his own wealth of power. Flicking his left hand out lazily, Xehanort summoned a Corridor of Darkness, a swirling miasma of black, purple, and steel grey coming to life before the old man.

Vanitas _did_ watch this display of power, something Xehanort did so effortlessly to the point it was second hand nature, with childish awe. That was the sort of power Vanitas wanted; the power to do as he wished, the power that would keep him safe and sound. That was what Vanitas craved deeply.

But Vanitas also craved something else.

As Xehanort walked away and into the darkness with no fear, Vanitas felt something else twinge in his heart. The masked boy dismissed it as nothing, but little did he know, Vanitas's heart, as black as it was becoming, wanted something else.

Love.

Vanitas wanted love.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two: Amity**_

" _When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." – Jimi Hendrix_

* * *

Winter at a location such as Land of Departure was normally rather mild. Temperatures lowered to a range between twenty and thirty degrees, the winds increased some, and there was occasional light sprinkling of snow that would dust the grassy, mountainous terrain that comprised most of the lands. Rivers, lakes, and some plains broke up the repetitiveness of Land of Departure, all of which continued normal life unabated when winter was behaving.

However, there were times when the weather was _just_ the right level to create heavy snowfall. When that happened, Land of Departure's crowning feature, the castle held in the air by golden chains, and the town near by, usually were greeted by two to three feet of snow and drifts of the wet, heavy stuff many more feet high. A majority of the town's residences would grumble and begrudgingly work to clear out the snow so they could carry on their daily lives.

However, one person was not among those people who complained about the snow. And fortunately for her, this winter had gifted her with a winter wonderland.

Land of Departure's grand castle was home, currently, to three residents: the wise, aged master of the castle named Eraqus, a brunette male named Terra, and a single female named Aqua. All of them had two things in common: each was originally an off-worlder and each of them could wield a Keyblade. Aqua and Terra where both students of Master Eraqus, each training to be Keyblade Masters under the watchful eye of the more experienced Keyblade wielder. Aqua, unlike her fellow apprentice, enjoyed the snow quite a bit.

So, early in the morning, before the sun would rise over the land and cast its light, Aqua was in the kitchen, enjoying a cup of hot coco with a few marshmallows in her cup. It was from here Aqua could watch the morning sun and the white all around outside.

The first of Master Eraqus's pupils, Aqua was a sixteen years old teenager who had been with Master Eraqus as a student since she was seven. Aqua's mother, Beatrix, had been a powerful mage on another world and had correspondingly gifted Aqua with tremendous abilities in magic. She had also passed on the rights of the Keyblade onto her daughter before Master Eraqus had arrived and requested to train Aqua as his pupil.

Of course, Beatrix had also gift Aqua with more than power.

She had a tall, slender figure, standing a few inches shorter than Terra. Blue eyes matched her medium-length blue hair that framed her face, which mostly parted to the left. Her lips were lush and inviting, adding to the paradise of expressions that was Aqua's face. She wore a black and navy blue, high-collared halter top, along with a black corset with two pairs of white laces. She had two pink straps intersecting over her ample chest, with a silver badge over the intersection.

Aqua had white bell-sleeves that had small, segmented pieces of armor attached to them, located on her upper arms. Tan, fingerless gloves completed her arm accessories. She had black shorts and stockings, which reached about halfway up her thighs, leaving a small area of bare skin. Two strips of blue cloth were draped over her hips; a thinner, white strip of clothing was tied around her waist. Her silver boots were pointed and armored, sporting a sharp hook on the outer side of each.

Currently, Aqua had drawn her slender legs up to her chest as she relaxed in a breakfast nook within the kitchen of Land of Departure, her oceanic blue eyes inspecting the land outside as the sun began to peek up above the horizon. She took a slow, deliberate sip from her cup, closing her eyes as she did so. Aqua sighed softly, savoring the flavor of her drink. The kitchen was well-equipped for the preparation and cooking of food, loaded with stainless steel appliances like a large French door refrigerator, a pair of double ovens, a large restaurant style stove top, two deep sinks with an extendable hose, and bar, along with a breakfast nook that had two benches and table between, able to seat four comfortably. There was also an island in the center of the kitchen that had a griddle on it.

As the light began to make the snow sparkle, light reflecting off of the snowflakes that had piled up on the ground and the ice icicles that hung off of ledges, Aqua's eyes cracked open a bit before opening fully. Inspected the increasingly delightful scene presented to her, Aqua thought, _'It's so pretty out there. I wish the Master had given us the day off…'_

While Aqua was _very_ serious about her training, she was entertaining thoughts about making snow angels and playing in the snow. She was allowed to indulge in her inner child, after all! The blue haired female giggled a bit to herself before she took another sip of her drink, cupping it with both hands as she brought it to her lips.

Putting aside her less serious thoughts, Aqua was excited about today's training. The Master had alluded to putting together something unique for her and Terra to be pushed hard today, leaving the mystery to generate all manner of thoughts in both his student's minds. After all, both Terra and Aqua loved challenges, each eagerly ready to face whatever the Master threw at them.

Speaking of Terra, the brunette in question was just now arriving to the kitchen, walking through an empty doorframe. Aqua perked up at the sight of Terra, smiling warmly at him as she placed her cup on the table before her. Calling to slow moving male to garner his attention, Aqua said, "Good morning Terra! How are you feeling this morning?"

Cobalt eyes darted over to Aqua's smiling form, causing the still-waking Terra to smirk back at her, replying, "I'm still trying to wake up, Aqua. How can you be so chipper in the morning?"

Tall and strongly built, Terra had brown hair that reached to the base of his neck. His hair was messy and spiky, while bangs framed his face.

Like Aqua, Terra wore two intersecting straps over his chest, though his red ones dropped much lower down on his frame, resembling crisscrossed suspenders. Under this, he wore a skintight, black, high-collared shirt, revealing his muscular frame underneath that Aqua was actually rather desensitized too. Terra wore armor on his left arm. There was a large, golden, ornate crest with a long, segmented section with each segment alternating between dark grey and dark red that reached all the way to the bottom of his hand. There was a black gauntlet on his forearm.

Terra did _not_ wear normal pants; instead, he wore a hakama that was dark grey at the top, with several loops for his belt and two undone buttons. The rest of the pants were tan. Unlike Aqua, he wore his silver badge on his belt. His armored boots were dark brown and gold.

"Oh, I've always been a morning person. I can relax and put my mind at ease during the serenity of the morning," Aqua responded to the brunette, causing his right eyebrow to arch ever so slightly. Terra was the antitheses to Aqua in that regard: he hated dragging himself out of bed, but he did it begrudgingly.

"I think you're crazy, if you ask _my_ opinion," came Terra's snarky retort as he walked over to the cabinets, which contained the goods to make pancakes. Although he wasn't the best cook, he could cook enough to take care of himself when Aqua wasn't feeling up to it or Master Eraqus was unable to cook.

Aqua pouted and crossed her arms at her friend that, while a year older than her, could act just like an overgrown kid. She eventually replied, "I didn't ask for your opinion, mister."

"I'm still gonna give it."

"I would question your wellbeing if you didn't, even if sometimes your opinion is as rough as the rocks that make up your brain," Aqua teased immediately, making Terra look over and frown slightly. He wasn't offended, but was she already going to start off with the playful jabs? His brain hadn't reached the point to allow him to make witty comebacks.

"It's too early in the morning for you to start off with jabs, Aqua," Terra grumbled back to Aqua, making her chuckle a bit as a response. She would go ahead and let him off of the hook, as she was more curious about today's training rather than getting Terra's feathers ruffled. And she was fully aware that Terra was just as thrilled for today's unknown challenge.

It was Terra's turn to perk, pausing in his creation of breakfast as he set down the container of pancake mix after pouring out enough to sate his hunger, as Aqua asked, "What do you think the Master has planned for us today?"

Terra hummed before he said, confidently, "I think he's going to summon an otherworldly beast for us to battle. You know, _really_ get our blood pumping."

Aqua actually deadpanned at this rather irresponsible statement from Terra. There was _no_ way the Master would honestly do something so outlandish and reckless, but she could tell her childhood friend was being serious in his statement. The blue haired mage shook her head at Terra before countering, "That's silly Terra. The Master would never do something so obnoxious."

"This is _Master Eraqus_ we're talking 'bout, Aqua. He's a clever fox and in control of the situation," Terra told the female looking at him with a bemused expression. The brunette resumed the creation of his pancakes, moving to the refrigerator to pull out the milk. As he fished for and grasped the jug, he inquired, "What do you think he's going to do?"

"A robot."

Terra nearly dropped the jug he was hold. "…say what?"

"I didn't stutter. I said a robot."

"And you have the guts to say my answer was obnoxious? Aqua, where in the Hell is Master Eraqus gonna get a robot?" Terra questioned incredulously, trying to gauge if Aqua was once again trying to mess with him or if she was being dead serious. Sometimes, Terra had a difficult time accurately assessing a person's statements.

Aqua flushed in embarrassment at her own, but she really did think fighting a robot would be exciting. Wringing her hands some, Aqua eventually said, "You _did_ say he was a sly fox. I'm sure, in all the Master's travels, he knows places that have robots. And at least my answer is safe: your answer involved magic that can go horribly wrong and leave the summoner unable to control the monster they summoned."

"Oh, so a robot can't suddenly glitch out?" Terra asked in a tone of disbelief as he realized that Aqua really was being serious. Man, she sure knew how to catch him off-guard.

"I never said that, but they have kill switches; summoned monsters don't," Aqua chastised as she tried her hardest to bring logic to her answer. After all, she understood magic and summoning better than Terra, so she felt like she could pull herself out of this particular dispute.

"Maybe you should sleep in a bit longer so you don't have that magic in your mind give you glitches in your reasoning abilities. That or stop styling yourself as the more responsible of us," Terra said wittily, making Aqua's eyes widen as he quiet thoroughly burned her this time around. In addition, he had closed the distance between them, his right hand reaching out and ruffling her hair playfully. Aqua's hands swatted at the offending appendage, making Terra's hand withdraw quickly.

He knew, while he was stronger physically, she packed a punch!

"Terra, stop messing up my hair!" Aqua whined as she ran her hands through her hair to straighten out her now puffy hair. Terra chuckled in amusement at how Aqua was acting, which only served to make her huff at him.

"Whatcha gonna do if I don't?" Terra dared to ask, making Aqua smirk and reply, "I'll tickle you."

Terra was now on the defensive. He had done his best to hide his ticklish spots from Aqua, least she take advantage of it (like she was doing _right now!),_ but the mage had tricked him into telling her. He wished he had kept his mouth shut.

"You wouldn't."

"I don't think you wanna press your luck, Terra," Aqua threatened lowly with a dangerous smirk. Terra wisely backed down from at this point, coinciding in order to save himself from the tyranny of her tickling.

Aqua was clearly pleased with her success in causing Terra to hastily withdraw from further assailing her hair, moving to take another sip from her drink while Terra continued to work on making pancakes. She silently watched as Terra clicked the griddle on the island on. While this appliance warmed up to the temperature of three-hundred seventy-five degrees, Terra poured the required amount of milk into the bowl containing the pancake mix.

Although the silence was comfortable, Terra eventually broke it as Aqua slipped out of her seat with a now empty cup and traveled over to the deep sink to rinse it out. As Aqua was allowing warm water to do its work, Terra said while stirring, "I hope we both do well today Aqua, regardless of what the Master has planned for us."

A smile once again appeared on Aqua's face as she listened to Terra wishing her and himself good luck. She placed her cup on a dish rack to air dry as she replied, "Terra, I know we'll do great. We've worked really hard to get this far even; if you believe in yourself, you'll always find the power to accomplish your goals and dreams."

There was a pause as Terra stopped stirring for a moment in order to fully digest Aqua's words. She always seemed to have the right words to bolster up Terra's confidence, pushing away the negative thoughts that sometimes corroded his mind. Terra never doubted his power, but he did doubt his ability to control the darkness he knew was within him. He feared his own darkness, but Aqua never once feared it, even when it occasionally flared up. To her, it was a part of Terra and there was no reason to flee from it.

"You're right; we'll make it through and prove to one another we have what it takes. Thanks, Aqua," Terra replied to the mage, who nodded back with a smile; little did Terra know, Aqua was just as nervous for today, in addition to the excitement she felt. Aqua just did a better job of hiding her nervousness than Terra did.

"It's getting close to the start of training; I'll see you there. Enjoy your breakfast!" Aqua cheerfully told Terra, who simply nodded in response, a smile still carved onto his face. Terra then watched Aqua depart after the conclusion of their morning banter, both of them satisfied with this morning's transactions.

As he resumed stirring, Terra _knew_ he was ready to face the day.

* * *

Indoor training at Land of Departure was regularly conducted in one location. This place was akin to a training grounds and a throne room, allowing for the conducting of multiple types of business. The room in question was a large rectangular room with a series of three hallways departing it: two at the far in and one behind the thrones. There was also a stairway that led down to the entrance of the castle, as well as a foreyard. One could look down onto the foreyard from above within the main hall. The entire room was the same dusty, tan color the entire castle mostly was, with two massive sets of stain glass windows, one at either end of the hall.

The throne had three wooden seats upon a dark wood platform, each with very tall backs to them. Red colored cushions gave the chairs more comfortable seating. A short flight of stairs allowed access to the thrones.

Aqua and Terra stood at attention before their Master, who, curiously, had a small bag with him today containing something. Both pupils wondered what the white cloth bag might contain, but they never took their eyes off of their Master.

Master Eraqus almost always carried a fairly stern, calm expression, but anyone could see the underlying caring and love the man held. Black hair was tied into a short, high topknot, with one bang falling off to the right side of his face. There was a short, triangular soul patch and a mustache on his aged face, skin a darker tan color. There were also several jagged scars on his face; who had inflicted them was either student's guess.

Gold and black armored boots protected the Master's feet while a dull blue-green section covered his abdomen; near the top of this armor was his Keyblade Mastery badge. The Master also wore a white, red lined haori with a hood, along with slightly shorter than normal, light-colored hakama. Underneath his haori, he sported a navy blue shirt with a large white X pattern on the front.

Looking between Terra and Aqua with critical eyes that could pierce into your inner thoughts, the wise man finally spoke. "At ease, Aqua, Terra," Eraqus stated as he walked closer to them. As a result, both Terra and Aqua relaxed visibly before their Master, who smiled a bit to them.

"I am sure you are both curious to know what is inside of this pouch," Eraqus asked as he held up the small bag to chest level. Before either of his students actually answered, Eraqus was already well aware of the interest both Keyblade bearers had, their curiosity getting to them.

"Yes, Master," came the dual response.

A chuckle of amusement escaped the Master. "You would both be correct in the assumption that this bag relates to today's training," Eraqus explained, starting to open the bag by untying the strings that held it shut. As the Master did this, he continued his explanation.

"You will both be facing me in battle today."

Both Aqua and Terra exchanged confused looks at one another. This was nothing new; they had both faced the Master singularly and together in training. Before either of them could vocalize their opinions, the next thing Eraqus said was enough to once again bring the excitement within Aqua and Terra back to full life.

"But you will be facing me blindfolded," the wise man concluded as he reached into the bag with his right hand, pulling out two blindfolds; he left a third blindfold within the bag in order to used for himself later. Each blindfold was thick and black in color.

Master Eraqus placed one blindfold into each of his apprentice's hands. Terra stared at the black cloth in his outstretched palm, looking as if he was waiting for it to suddenly come to life and bite him, like some black serpent. He didn't seem to keen on placing the blindfold over his eyes.

Aqua, on the other hand, was already placing her's onto her head, vision being plunged into darkness right away. Unable to see anything made her feel uneasy and open to sudden assaults; prompting, she commented on the state of her vision. "I feel like I'm under a Blackout spell. My vision has been robbed from me and it really unnerves me."

"A fair assessment of your situation, Aqua. However, a Blackout spell can be removed with Panacea or other items. This exercise is to test yourself if an opponent uses a more physical method of blinding you," Master Eraqus praised to his more senior student, while Terra had begun to place his blindfold on. Like Aqua, his vision turned completely black, leaving him to rely on only his senses and hearing.

"So, we're suppose to rely on just hearing and touch…" Terra mused, making Eraqus clap once, indicating his approval of Terra's quick understanding of the exercise. Terra smirked, feeling quite proud of his grasp of the exercise. Aqua, however, completed the picture moments after Terra's correct guesswork.

"Not only that, but we have to fight alongside an ally and not hurt each another by accident," Aqua said as she felt a shiver rush up her spine. It wasn't a robot or a summoned monster, but it was certainly a different kind of challenge altogether. Aqua found herself struggling to contain her excitement.

"More than once, not only will you be outnumbered, you will find opponents do not fight fairly: they spit at you, throw dirt into your eyes, use magic to create thick fog, or even use chemicals to take away your sight," Master Eraqus told both his students as he brought to light the reasons on why he was making them wear blindfolds. "Regardless, the fight doesn't always end when you go blind. My own Master defeated a monster without his sight and with a useless arm, so the fight is only over when you give up or are killed."

"Yes, Master!" came two excited replies as Aqua and Terra summoned their respective Keyblades, Stormfall and Ends of the Earth. Each Keyblade matched their owners, showing the striking differences between one another as well. Stormfall was blue, grey, slender, and curvy; Ends of the Earth was brown, tan, heavy, and blocky. Stormfall appeared in a flash of white light and flower petals while Ends of the Earth was birthed in a digital flash of light.

The difference between Terra and Aqua's stances was readily apparent as well. Terra carried himself far more aggressively, legs spread wider and left hand clenching and unclenching as he held his Keyblade with his other hand. On the other hand, Aqua was more relaxed, hips rolling ever so slightly as her free hand waved back and forth some. Stormfall was held firmly in her hand, jutting back behind her some.

By now, the Master had not only blindfolded himself, but also summoned his own Keyblade. Mostly palette the color grey, the Master's Keyblade was long and thin, sporting a square guard. The teeth were squares as well, adding to the steel appearance the weapon carried. The Master held his weapon out in front of him in a defensive manner, although this was not the case.

"Let us begin."

And with that, Aqua and Terra braced themselves for the Master's lightning fast attacks, ready for him to strike at them aggressively. Normally, the Master would push them hard and give them only small openings in order to collect their minds so as not to overwhelm them totally.

Instead, there was an eerie silence.

And that alone was enough to greatly warn the duo that Eraqus had changed his attack pattern altogether. Silence, in this cast, indicated danger of a new sort.

Aqua was breathing slowly and deeply, trying to listen for anything that would indicate the Master was moving into attack either her or Terra. She heard what sounded like Terra taking a few tentative steps to her left, assuming he hadn't left his original starting point.

Suddenly, Aqua heard a new noise between her and Terra, making her pivot hard and fire a Fira at the source of the noise, heat pooling in her left palm. Fire bloomed to life shortly there after, followed by a bark as the blob of flame rushed away from Aqua at her intended target.

However, Master Eraqus was already experienced in this manner of combat, leaping up and towards Aqua, her Fira spell passing harmlessly under the airborne form of Eraqus. Terra heard the attack coming his way, causing him to promptly slide away. It was a good thing he did; he felt the flames tickled his calves as they soared by.

Aqua sloppily blocked a downward Keyblade strike from her Master, weapons clanging loudly as sparks few. The force of the strike, regardless of how much the Master held back, was enough to cause Aqua to stagger back several steps. The sudden, follow up combination of attacks served to drive Aqua even farther back, the teenager crying out in shock. She just barely kept a hold of her Keyblade.

Terra, hearing Aqua's cry, yelled at her, "Aqua!" Reacting quickly and using his hearing to direct himself to the fight between Aqua and Master Eraqus, Terra rushed into assist the mage. Assuming the Master was between him and Aqua, the powerful male swung his Keyblade down in a double-handed, overhead strike.

Instead, Terra's weapon impacted jarringly into Aqua's Barrier spell as the sly teacher slipped away from Terra's attack. Ends of the Earth bounced off of the translucent dome, Terra gacking as he struggled to keep ahold of his weapon. That Barrier spell was harder than titanium, he swore!

"Terra, I'm so sorry!" Aqua exclaimed in the heat of battle, knowing this test was already causing her and Terra many headaches. She had been trying to defend herself from her teacher's attacks; she didn't mean to make Terra recoil like that!

"It's fine!" Terra responded in a hurry before he felt a foot plant itself in-between his shoulder blades painfully. He was thrown face first into Aqua, whose Barrier had just faded away. His forehead clocked into Aqua's, making both of them cry out in pain. Aqua held her forehead as she felt tears swinging her eyes. That had hurt a lot! Terra unleashed a string of cursing that the Master would surely punish him for later.

"Do not panic!" Master Eraqus commanded sternly as he struck Aqua from behind, the teeth of his Keyblade smacking the back of the mage's head. The bluenette squeaked in pain once again as she was flung forward and into Terra's chest, the brunette catching her as she managed to curse, "Damn it!"

It appeared Aqua would be joining Terra in punishment if she upped the level of her foulness anymore.

Scrambling to get off of Terra before they both got caught in an attack, Aqua used her Barrier spell to cover both herself and Terra, flicking her left hand out quickly. She felt a magic spell impact into the barricade, a Fira exploding as it struck. Breathing heavily as flames crackled around them, Aqua glanced back to Terra who mumbled, softly, "Thanks…"

"We're friends; I want to protect you," Aqua responded while she struggled to keep her protective spell up for a few seconds longer than normal, which served to strain her mind. However, this had to be done to buy her and Terra some precious time; plus, an idea had just come to the bluenette. Holding her Keyblade out in a defensive manner, Aqua commanded the brunette, "We need to get back to back with one another!"

Terra did as he was requested, rapidly understanding what Aqua was trying to do. If they were back to back, then short of coming from above or below, the Master's avenues of attack were less numerous. They could also better defend themselves in this manner.

The spell guarding Aqua and Terra from further assault faded away as bare back pressing into clothed one. Terra could smell faint pulses of lavender under the smoky air the Fira spells had created, but he didn't let that distract him. Right now, his mind was keenly focused on protect Aqua's back from any attacks; Aqua's was likewise concentrating on keeping Terra safe. Both of them would keep one another safe.

This time, another attack came at the duo, Terra deflecting a strong Keyblade strike, roaring as he pushed the Master back with a counter swing. The Master slid back several feet and recovered quickly, going silent once again as he shifted his angle of attack. This time, he struck out roughly were Aqua and Terra's back met, but Aqua deflect the blow with a swift motion of her Keyblade, a bang occurring that reverberated up Aqua's arm.

The Master leaped back quickly, unleashing several more blows on the duo; correspondingly, they shifted so that Aqua could defend them more effectively. Aqua was shaking slightly as the Master pounded away at her defenses with increase power, signaling he was starting to be more serious. Terra felt the wind of a Keyblade strike passing dangerously close to the back of his head, but he trusted Aqua. She wouldn't so easily allow the Master to harm him.

More attacks came as the Master attacked Terra suddenly, unleashing a Blizzara on the brunette. A chill passed over the Master's outstretched arm that translated into colder air near Terra, giving him just enough warning to snap up Ends of the Earth, causing the hunk of ice to shatter harmlessly. That was immediately followed up a series of rapid physical strikes that made Terra grit his teeth as his arm shook under repeated blows.

By now, Terra was wondering how they could take back the offensive so the Master wouldn't eventually overpower them. They couldn't do more conventional tactics, like a pincher move. This time, they had to get a little creative.

During a momentary lull, Terra quietly inquired of Aqua, "We need to try and disarm 'em…but how?" He knew if he could strike the Master's hand hard enough at the right time, then he could follow up and pin the Master. But without a surefire method to get to that point, he was at a loss on what to do.

Thankfully, Aqua could pick up the slack. Also pondering how to accomplish defeating the Master versus remaining defensive, Aqua eventually happened upon a new move she had been struggling with. It wasn't going to be easy and it would strain her mind even more, but Aqua knew it had a good chance of producing a swift victory.

She just prayed she could time herself correctly. If she failed, her energy could be sapped on the spot and Terra would be left to fend for himself. Expressing her plan without revealing too much, Aqua whispered, "When you hear me yell 'gotcha,' make your move. Strike to the side I hold my Keyblade on…"

She trailed off when she heard Master Eraqus suddenly rush her from the right in what sounded like a thrusting Keyblade strike. Aqua brought her Keyblade up horizontally to defend herself. There was metallic ringing as Stormfall met and blocked Master Keeper.

However, something was immediately amiss.

"Gotcha!" Aqua said triumphantly, the Master finding his Keyblade had stuck to Aqua's. Much to the Master's surprise—along with pride surging into his chest—Aqua had magnetized her Keyblade in order to prevent the Master from swiftly withdrawing. Before he could counter Aqua's actions, Terra swung around, snarling aggressively as his Ends of the Earth lashed out and successfully struck the Master's blade wielding hand.

The Master was not able to keep his grip on Master Keeper, giving Terra just enough time to drive forward and take the unbalanced Master Eraqus off of his feet with a sweeping kick. Both Aqua and Terra pressed their weapons into the down Master's chest, signaling their victory in this particular battle.

Eraqus began to laugh at the results of the fight, but his laughter was out of pleasure. He was _immensely_ impressed with the both of them!

Quickly removing his blindfold, Eraqus watched as Aqua and Terra dismissed their Keyblades, removing their own blindfolds afterwards. Expressions of happiness were written on both of their faces, but the Master noticed Aqua was a tad pale and sweating a bit more than Terra.

Keeping an eye on Aqua, Master Eraqus was helped to his feet by Terra, patting Terra heartily on the back as soon as he was able to. "Excellent work, both of you!" Eraqus praised, letting his serious demeanor go for now to fully express his glee. Looking to Terra first, he expressed his pleasure by commenting, "You did an excellent job disarming me, as well as moving immediately with no hesitation on taking advantage of Aqua's magic. Well done!"

Terra beamed with pride at this; their Master didn't usually praise them so vigorously, so when moments like this came, both students happily accepted them for what they were.

Now the Master's attention was drawn to Aqua, who smiled weakly at him as he said to her, "And Aqua, your usage of Magnet to magnetize your Keyblade as a way to prevent me from quickly escaping before Terra's timely counter was absolutely stellar! Your planning was excellent as well and the both of you quickly realized the best way to protect one another."

Normally, training would continue after this secession, but Aqua had quickly realized—despite feeling proud from her Master's praise—she had taxed her magical abilities a bit too much today. Her chest constricted as her stomach flipped, magic ravaging her body.

"M-Master, thank you…but I don't feel so…urk!" Aqua began before she suddenly collapsed to one knee, left arm snapping out to prevent herself from falling completely onto her face. She felt bile rising in the back of her throat, but she swallowed it back. Her face was lowered down as she tried to hide her face.

Immediately, the Master and Terra were at her side, with Eraqus going onto one knee and placing one hand on Aqua's back. He could feel how warm she was, overly so, so he inspected her for damage he hadn't seen while casting a Cura on her to heal up any damage within. Seeing the Cura hadn't produced much in terms of results, he soon deduced Aqua had overtaxed herself.

' _Of course. She has never used Magnet in such a manner before; in addition, she had to time my attack perfectly, cast the spell in a split second and channel it, following up with holding it longer than normal,'_ the aged Master realized as Aqua breathed slowly and deeply to calm her shivering form. She didn't look up at her Master or Terra as they crowded around her, making her feel tiny all the sudden.

Terra, on the other hand, didn't know why Aqua had suddenly crumpled to a kneeling position, color drained from her skin. He was worried that something had happened to her; he didn't want his best friend to get hurt. She had always been there for him. He had to be there for her as he asked, "Aqua, are you alright?"

Before Aqua could answer, the Master did for her. "Terra, she has greatly overtaxed herself with her magic, but she will recover. She just needs to rest, so I will suspend training until tomorrow," Master Eraqus said to Terra, who nodded a bit before looking back to Aqua. A slight frown appeared on his face; she had been reckless again.

Sure, Terra had done the same, but Aqua made it a habit of trying to give Terra grey hair with her antics.

Aqua, feeling terrible she had just cost Terra an entire day's worth of training with the Master, mumbled dejectedly, "I'm sorry Terra, Master. I didn't mean for…" However, Terra cut her off this time around, remarking, "Don't apologize, Aqua. You just did what it took to protect me, right?"

Aqua looked up to Terra slowly, looking to see if he was just being gruff with her or sincere. Upon seeing him smiling down at her, she managed to produce another smile that could cause away the darkness. She didn't say anything else as Master Eraqus slowly helped the teenager up to her feet; she just felt better Terra wasn't holding it against her.

Once she was sure she could stand on her own two feet without getting sick, Aqua moved away from Master Eraqus, thanking him softly as she did so. The Master turned away from them as he started to head back to the thrones, while Aqua slowly headed to the end of the main hall that dueled as a balcony. Terra followed her, to keep an eye on her just incase she regressed.

"For what it's worth…" Terra began as Aqua glanced over her shoulder at him, arching her eyebrow as a result. Terra finished with a playful smirk, going, "I think you did great back there; it was worth passing out for."

"Ha, ha, you're really funny, aren't you?" Aqua questioned with an upturn of her lips, making Terra chuckle at her. Aqua joined in the laughing, but she had to control her laughter because the after waves of pain still were coursing through her frame.

"No, but…I definitely like seeing you laugh versus seeing you in pain," Terra remarked offhand, making Aqua stop laughing and watched with wide eyes as Terra walked past her. For some reason, she found her heart pounding all of the sudden. Quickly chalking it up to still feeling a tad sick, Aqua soon found herself next to Terra as he looked down to the foreyard below.

Aqua opened her mouth to start speaking to Terra once again, but something flooded her mind. Something cold, dank, and vile; it was the power of darkness. Her entire body shivered at the feeling of perverse darkness, a feeling which only started growing stronger with each passing moment. Looking over to Terra finally, the mage checked to see if he was feeling was she was experiencing.

Nothing. Not a single expression on Terra's face as he looked down to the foreyard below.

' _Calm down, Aqua. You're just overreacting, it's nothing,'_ Aqua thought as she looked down at the foreyard as well. As she did this action, the doors suddenly opened, like a great wind had forced them open effortlessly. Aqua jumped in surprise, as did Terra.

Walking through the now open doors was a man that Aqua could see was so steeped in darkness that it made her afraid, followed by a young blonde boy. How the boy was so calm around the overwhelming darkness was a mystery.

The elderly looking man looked up at Terra and Aqua, spotting them both with golden eyes. Aqua cringed slightly at the stare he gave her while Terra, at first glancing at Aqua's sudden change in mannerisms, looked at the man and inquired, "Can I assist you, sir?"

The man folded his arms behind his back and chuckled a bit, remarking with a low tone, "It seems my fellow Master has instilled a sense of respect in you, my boy. I can presume you are Eraqus's students, Terra and Aqua?"

"Y-yes sir," Aqua replied with a forced smile as she did her best to live up to manners she had also been taught by both her parents and Master, but she was finding it difficult when she felt something so _wrong_ about this man. "Are you looking for Master Eraqus?"

"That is correct, Aqua. Allow me to introduce myself, young ones," the man said with a smile that only served to further unnerve Aqua. "My name is Master Xehanort. Might you be kind enough to go and fetch Master Eraqus? It has been quite sometime since I have seen my old friend; unfortunately, I do not come here bearing good news…"

Aqua blinked a bit as she looked to the young blonde with Master Xehanort, while Terra was quick to bow respectfully at the aged Keyblade Master and reply, "I'll go get him right away, sir."

Aqua soon found herself alone as Terra left. Looking back at Terra's back for a moment, Aqua soon looked down at the blonde, seeing that he appeared rather lifeless. Her curiosity was perked at this point, the bluenette taking the short cut and leaping down to the foreyard below. She landed gracefully on both feet, crouching a bit before standing to full height. Xehanort arched an eyebrow at her curiously before he remarked, "I used to do the very same thing when something garnered my attention down here."

Aqua wasn't quite sure how to respond to this. She didn't like those eyes drilling into her, like he was inspecting her keenly for whatever reason. Aqua smiled once again and replied, "I-I'll use the stairs next time…"

Xehanort chuckled at Aqua's nervousness once again. Although he didn't show it, he could tell this girl, along with her fellow student, had a fair amount of latent power. Eventually, he replied, "Dear girl, I was not criticizing you. There is nothing wrong with having curiosity and a desire to learn. After all, knowledge is a key trait of a developing mage."

"Oh, well…"

Before their conversation could continue any farther, Terra and Master Eraqus arrived on the scene, saving Aqua from having to be alone with the man that was creeping her out. Aqua let out a mental sigh of relief as Master Eraqus moved past her and to Xehanort.

"Xehanort! It is quite sudden to see you here today," Master Eraqus began as he warmly greeted his fellow Master. Despite the fact his scars had come from this man during their last meeting, he was going to do his best to welcome back Xehanort with open arms. After all, the man had once been a very close friend of Eraqus's.

Terra and Aqua watched as Master Xehanort smiled to Eraqus, giving him a strong handshake as Master Eraqus reached him, gripping the man's right hand. Speaking, the bald man responded, "It has been some time, my old friend." Glancing at his fellow Master, Xehanort spotted an all-too-familiar white cloth bag on the belt Eraqus wore. This brought back memories of when him and Eraqus were but pupils themselves.

"I see you blindfolded your apprentices," Xehanort noted as he ended his handshake, gesturing briefly to the bag in question. Smirking at the fond memory, he then said, "I distinctly remember that day with our own Master; it was not a pleasant experience."

"I do believe that was because you, of _all_ people, panicked," came the sly jab in response.

"Only after you hit yourself in the face with your own Keyblade and was on fire," came the counter remark, causing both Masters to chuckle in amusement of their training memories. Terra and Aqua exchanged looks of wonderment, but Aqua still was not able to shake the feeling Master Xehanort gave her.

Oh, right, maybe she should pay more attention to the conversation, because it had already gotten more serious in the moment she wasn't fully paying attention.

"Sadly, Eraqus, I cannot stay long and I bring you sad news: I am unable to continue training my own pupil," Xehanort said as he gestured to the boy in question. The blonde still carried the same dull look he had arrived with, indicating to everyone in the room something was wrong with him.

"What in the world happened to Ventus?" Eraqus immediately questioned, moving over to the boy and inspecting him closely. Xehanort didn't have to answer him; Eraqus quickly knew what was wrong, causing his eyes to widen some.

"He has sustained heavy damage to his heart…and his memories are lost."

Xehanort, sighing heavily as a sad expression overcame him, nodded gravely to Eraqus's correct assessment of Ventus's wellbeing. Once again acting to benefit himself and maintain good standings with his fellow Master, Xehanort began to explain before anyone could jump to conclusions he didn't want them too.

"Indeed. Sadly, the boy was overcome with darkness during a training session with him. While using the method our own Master used on us—making him face his greatest fear—Ventus was swallowed up by his own darkness and became made with rage," Xehanort explained with gesturing firmly with his hands, jabbing the air as he spoke with his hands as well. Eraqus turned to his fellow Master, a look of pity on his face. Apparently, he was well aware of the test in question; he knew it could be risky, but no one he was aware of had ever gone mad due to the test.

Ventus, it appeared, had been the unlucky one.

As everyone listen to Xehanort spin his clever tale, he looked down at the floor, humiliated and regretful as he said, "I immediately faced him in the hopes of saving him; while I was success in prevent Ventus from becoming a Heartless, I was forced to rip the darkness, hatred, and fury from him and damaged him greatly as a result of both our battle and my attempts to save him." There was a pause as Xehanort collected his thoughts, appearing ready to cry at the memory of what he had done.

"I cannot bare to even attempt to train him, should he recover. It might also cause the memories of what I did to resurface if he should stay with me and make him regress."

Terra was horrified at what he was hearing, but also impressed that Master Xehanort had tried as hard as he could to save Ventus from himself. It had to of taken great courage to face your own pupil or anyone you cared about that was taken by the darkness.

"Do not worry, friend; I can take care of Ventus. I am terribly sorry for what you must have gone through to save Ventus from the darkness," Master Eraqus said, saving Xehanort the trouble of even asking. Moving to take the blonde's hand, Master Eraqus began to lead the boy away, to a room so he could rest and hopefully recover.

Xehanort smiled with a thankful expression on his face as he replied, "Thank you, friend. I apologize for burdening you even further. I shall depart now; if you could, please keep me up-to-date on how Ventus is doing?"

"Of course, Xehanort. Save travels; do not blame yourself for what happened to Ventus," Eraqus cautioned to his fellow Master, who nodded in response sadly, keeping up his acting magnificently.

As Xehanort departed, there was one person among the group who felt like Xehanort was not telling everything he knew. This person watched the elderly Master departure, arms folded behind his back, with a frown on their face.

That person was Aqua.

' _Someone that steeped in darkness…there's something not right about this,'_ Aqua thought, the doors closing behind Xehanort as he departed Land of Departure's castle and back to wherever he had come from.

Aqua, finally following Eraqus, Terra, and the near catatonic Ventus, found she didn't trust Xehanort.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three: Jealousy**_

 _The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves—William Penn_

* * *

Vanitas was exhausted. He felt completely spent as he struggled to remain on his feet, trying his hardest to keep up with the pace he and Xehanort had mutually agreed upon. Between the agony of receiving his face finally—trust him, it was a strange as it sounded—and the relentless nature of Xehanort, Vanitas could understand even more thoroughly why Ventus couldn't have hoped to handle this Master's brand of vicious training.

It involved a lot of pain, for one; rests were like asking for the sky to rain ice cream.

Or maybe it was something else. Xehanort had returned with a rather dark, stormy expression on his face, something that betrayed his feelings that something was bothering him. And for some reason, Vanitas knew when this old guy was pissed off, people needed to watch out.

The elderly Master then explained to Vanitas that Ventus had survived the ordeal of having Vanitas shed from him and could still be used for the making of X-blade. Vanitas was aware of Ventus's rather _lucky_ survival thanks to the fact he also had come in contact with the same newborn heart that Ventus had, although his was much more painful and brief.

The follow up information was what caught Vanitas's total attention. Xehanort was quite annoyed by the fact his fellow Master— _Eraqus, that was his name_ —had made leaps and bounds in training his two students. Both were aspiring to be Keyblade Masters. While Master Xehanort did not see eye to eye with Eraqus, he was fully aware the man was an excellent teacher that could mold people into fine warriors. As such, he now had further things to content with in regards to his goals.

One of Eraqus's students was a teenager named Terra who had caught Xehanort's eye because of the darkness within. The Master further explained his plan to take Terra's body to use as a vessel to extend his life, in order to see what lied beyond the results of the Keyblade War. The man was full of conviction to help others, but also obsessed with power. As such, he could be tricked and pushed along into becoming a fine vessel—a meat puppet, Vanitas thought with a mixture of pity and disgust.

The second, and actually the elder pupil, was a teenage girl named Aqua. What bothered Xehanort about her was the fact she was talent mage _, full_ of light, difficult to actually manipulate directly, and close to Terra. Her light gave him added confidence and made it far more difficult for Terra to use his darkness. In addition, she herself was strong and her thirst for self-improvement made her dangerous.

 _Both_ of them had much latent power and already they showed they would be issues to Vanitas if he wasn't training hard. They had _years_ on him; he would have to train much harder than them just to catch up, let alone surpass them.

All of this Xehanort had concluded from a short visit—maybe ten, twenty minutes at most. If you could say one thing about the man, he was extremely adept at picking people apart.

' _Aqua…Terra…are you why I'm once again in pain?'_ Vanitas thought as he once again got into a shaky stance, Void Gear held weakly over his head, confused whether he should hate them or be thanking them. He was already distracted by his thoughts, in addition to the haze brought froth by exhaustion. No longer was he performing at reasonable levels.

Vanitas was soon rocked from his thoughts by an obscenely powerful blow to the chest. Teeth dug into suit and skin, once again wounding the already severely weakened dark boy. Blood sprayed from the fresh wound and painted the air briefly. Vanitas soon found himself rolling along the ground, masked form seeing stars as he fought to stay conscious.

" _Boy!"_ Xehnaort snarled as he teleported above Vanitas, lingering in the air before he landed on the ground near him. The boy was on his side, panting as he struggled to get back onto his feet. But he found, much to his horror, he was struggling to even accomplish this normally effortless motion.

Xehanort sighed, pondering that it was quite possible that Vanitas was not even remotely prepared for this pace. He had overestimated Vanitas's power; although he _was_ already doing much better than Ventus had. And despite how eager his new student had been to start, eagerness didn't equate to power and stamina and it was clearly on full display here.

"It appears I have overestimated your power, Vanitas. While you are _far_ superior to Ventus, you are very much _inferior_ to Terra and Aqua. You assured me that you could handle the level of effort it would take to match and then surpass those two," Xehanort's gravel voice rumbled on as he closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. Disappointment was thick in his voice as he concluded, " _Clearly,_ you are not prepared for these strenuous trails."

"I am tryin' my hardest here, _Master,"_ came the angry retort as Vanitas finally forced himself onto one knee, gripping Void Gear hatefully as the old man snorted instead of praised him. Hadn't he shown his potential after staying on his feet for seven straight hours and doing everything Xehanort had asked in minimal tries? All he had heard instead was how inferior he was to people he didn't even really know.

And, in an even deeper wound to his pride, Vanitas kept finding that he was not nearly as strong as he envisioned himself. He kept finding more and more people whom where mightier than he! That only served to make him even more pissed than he already was. He was _Vanitas._ He should be the _strongest_ in the _universe!_

That's when Xehanort said something that sent him into a fury.

"If this is all you can muster, then you might as well surrender your dreams at once. No savior is _this_ underwhelming."

Vanitas's felt his right eye twitch at the searing insult that had just been thrust deep into his already cracked pride. He gritted his teeth under his mask before he let out a mixture between a scream and a howl, coming to his feet in an instant as darkness poured around him. It gave him renewed power to once again attack Xehanort, hell-bent on showing the old man that he was not inferior to those other two!

Rushing at Xehanort like a dark comet, Vanitas unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts at short range right before impacting Xehanort. The Master gracefully darted back from the attack, almost lazily avoiding the follow-up strike of nearly crazed swings from Vanitas afterwards. Vanitas began to mix in kicks with his swings, becoming a whirlwind of chaotic attacks. Void Gear whizzed through the air angrily as Vanitas put forth all his power into striking Xehanort.

"Yes, that's it, my boy! Give yourself over to darkness!" Xehanort openly taunted as he never even once used his own Keyblade to block Vanitas's attacks, opting to instead dodge them as further incentive to enrage Vanitas. The tactic was working: he could see the glow of yellow eyes under that tinted helmet, coupled with the increased amount of darkness that was roaring around Vanitas.

The darkness spawned dozens of the Flood Unversed, as Xehanort and Vanitas had dubbed them. They were negative emotions given life; they were not well versed in their own existences, after all. As the Floods joined into the fray, attacking Xehanort in waves, the wise Master instead started to strike down the monsters with single, strong blows that cut them apart. The deaths of his follows instantly affected Vanitas, making him further mad with pain as he snarled, "You _bastard!"_

Vanitas was beyond livid once again; Xehanort was striking his creations down as if they were more important than he! How _dare_ he belittle him by ignoring him altogether? Vanitas grasped his Keyblade with both hands, bringing it across in front of him in a double-handed vertical swing.

Of course, Xehanort teleported to avoid the blow, which instead cut through the air where the old Master had once been. Seeing Xehanort appear several feet away, Vanitas screamed with rage and dropped his weapon, which clattered to the ground with a clank. Moments later, Vanitas was bringing both hands above his head and began to channel his power and darkness into one, massive attack.

Xehanort watched with interest as Vanitas reabsorbed his Floods, which melted into raw emotion and darkness again, pooling to the ground before slithering back into Vanitas via his feet. Above Vanitas, an orb of purple and blue darkness appeared, although it was not a perfect sphere, instead being an unstable blob of darkness. The messy attack swelled rapidly in size, getting roughly six feet across as it began to hum with barely contained power.

Instead of praising him, Xehanort once again taunted his student by asking, "And just what do you think you'll do with that puny thing?"

" _ **Burn in HELL OLD MAN!"**_

And with all his remaining power, Vanitas flung the attack right at Xehanort. It soared through the air like a rocket, screaming as it was guided right at its target. Vanitas had all manner of glorious images of Xehanort on the ground, bleeding, and smoke rolling off of him from a direct hit. He was going to make him suffer for looking down on him so much! It would be a testament to his—

 _PA-WACK!_

Vanitas felt his jaw drop as his entire body felt a chilly feeling of terror pass over it. His arms, which had been held out rigidly in the air, slumped down before going limp to Vanitas's side. He couldn't honestly believe what he was seeing right now. He had put all his power into that blow and Xehanort…he had _just…_

Slapped it away with his Keyblade like it was a fly.

Xehanort cocked his head over his shoulder as he watched Vanitas's massed darkness collided instead with a pillar of rock to his left, the missile exploding with a resounding crash that sent little bits of stone flying into Xehanort's back, which pelted him. He was annoyed by the little pelting stones, but not wounded in the slightest. The tower, on the other hand, was mostly vaporized, being reduced into a smoking crater, purple smoke rolling into the air.

Xehanort returned his deadly attention to the now quivering form of Vanitas. Lifting his Keyblade up slowly, Xehanort gave the masked boy before him a chilly smile.

" _Let us see how you handle one of my attacks."_

* * *

"You have concerns regarding Master Xehanort?"

There was a clear tone of exasperation in Master Eraqus's voice as he sat at his desk, trying to understand why he was having to deal with concerns about Master Xehanort. The Master at first leaned back in his large, rolling chair made of heavy oak and covered a plush leather seating, exhaling slowly, before he leaned forward and rested his elbows onto his large, rectangular oak desk. His eyes rested on the person who had brought froth this concerns.

Aqua felt herself wanting to beat a hasty retreat out of the Master's circular office, at first electing to stare weakly at the quill pen and ink jar on the Master's desk; it was, currently, the only other thing to look at on the desk aside from Master Eraqus. She hadn't expected Master Eraqus to sound to crass with her in regards to Xehanort.

' _He's only been good friends with the man for years; stop being so naïve and foolish, Aqua,'_ she thought as she chided herself for expecting anything else. After all, if someone had brought such _negative_ concerns about one of her close friends, she'd likely feel the same way.

"Aqua. If you do not have reasons for why you have trust issues with Master Xehanort, then I have no pretense to carry this matter further," Master Eraqus spoke, tearing out from her thoughts. Her blue eyes met the Master's and she could see the disappointment in his eyes; all of which was currently reserved for her. She knew that unless she said something to try and alleviate the Master's irritation, she would likely get punished.

Exhaling shakily in order to calm herself, Aqua finally spoke.

"Master, I know it might come off as being quite rude of me to question the standing of another Keyblade Master, but I could _feel_ the darkness rolling off of him. It was thick and foul," Aqua began to explain, hoping that would be helpful in presenting her cause. After all, there was no way someone could be that steeped in darkness and not have something wrong with them. The Master had taught them darkness had to be destroyed; if so, then why was he able to turn a blind eye to such foulness? Had the bonds that had brought joy between him and Xehanort during the times of old now instead blinding him?

As Aqua stood apprehensively before her Master, she had no clue that she had instead surprised him with her words. The Master's eyes widened a bit as he processed Aqua's words. She had _felt_ the darkness. The way she had described the darkness she had felt coming from Xehanort only meant one thing: Aqua had yet another gift, but this gift was sensing darkness.

' _Astounding. Very few people have such a gift and never once in my life would I have expected to meet such a person,'_ Master Eraqus thought as he brought his hands together, torso leaning forward as he was fully engaged in the conversation. It had shifted from trust issues to something else; Eraqus had begun realizing that Aqua's potential against fighting the creatures that lurked within the shadows had grown quite a bit, once this skill was harnessed.

"Aqua, I understand why you have trust issues with Master Xehanort. While he and I do not see eye to eye on darkness, I cannot prevent him from exploring and using the powers darkness has to offer," Master Eraqus began as he felt like he understood why Aqua was feeling so nervous around the darkness wielding Master. After all, when one could sense the negativity that was darkness, how could they trust someone? Continuing with his response, Master Eraqus concluded, "However, you cannot judge a book by its cover. You have a rare ability to detect darkness within a person and this untrained ability is likely the source of your discomfort."

The concerned teenager blinked a few times and realized she had been defeated for now. Maybe Master Eraqus was right that she was acting out because she had judged Master Xehanort prematurely. Slumping a bit in defeat—not even news of her gift was really enough to change how she felt—Aqua finally bowed to Master Eraqus and replied, "Yes, Master. I understand the error of my ways."

"We shall start tomorrow with extra training in order to better harness your new-found power; after all, power untrained is potential wasted," Master Eraqus said before he gestured to the door behind Aqua. Feeling like the matter was settled with the girl, he then said, "You are dismissed."

Aqua bowed respectfully as she replied, "Yes, Master." Turning away from the wise man, the bluenette headed for the door and, upon reaching it, opened it and stepped out. Master Eraqus was then left alone in his office, allowing him sometime to mull over everything that had just transpired.

Ventus's condition.

Aqua's concerns.

Xehanort's darkness.

While Master Eraqus made it a point to not pass any impressions onto his students, working to allow them to formulate their own opinion, he did understand that sometimes it was good to go with a gut feeling. All of these things could be signs for something much more terrible in the future. Or they could be nothing.

However, as Master Eraqus traced his right hand over one of the scars given to him by his fellow Master in an angry argument they had had, he realized that he needed to be wary, despite the fact he was doing his best to give Xehanort the benefit of the doubt.

' _Xehanort…I do hope that you've given up on that dreadful plan…'_

* * *

It had been two days since Ventus had arrived at Land of Departure, but the boy was not out and about, learning about the castle. Nor was he training with Aqua and Terra, fulfilling his own (presumed at this point) desire to become a Keyblade Master. He wasn't speaking, he wasn't making friends, and he certainly hadn't told anyone anything about himself. Instead, shortly after his arrival, Ventus had taken a turn for the worse.

The blonde had passed out and had not woken up.

Despite this, training of Aqua and Terra hadn't actually ceased. Master Eraqus had reached out to the town's medical facilities; successfully so, as they had immediately dispatched a nurse to tend to the boy. The young woman did her best to make sure Ventus was comfortable within his own room, as well as keeping him hydrated with IV lines. Her main concern at the moment was preventing blood clots from forming in his limbs; as such, she rotated him regularly.

Master Eraqus knew that no medicine would actually help Ventus; he would either wake up on his own or…

Master Eraqus shook his head a bit as he traveled to the Main Hall for today's training, as if that would toss away the far more hopeless thought that was daring to rear its head within the aged Master's mind. He prayed that Ventus would wake up.

' _I can only imagine how Aqua, Terra, and Master Xehanort would react should Ventus not wake up or pass away,'_ Eraqus thought grimly as he frowned slightly. Even though he was doing his best to have life carry on normally around the castle, he, like his students, was worried for Ventus's wellbeing. He could take some solicits in the fact that Ventus did have a dedicated nurse keeping an eye on him, assuring the Master he was under constant supervision.

Arriving in the Main Hall, Eraqus was immediately greeted by the sounds of Terra and Aqua's voices. As he continued his walk around the thrones, he soon spotted the duo. They had their backs to him as they spoke, with Terra saying to Aqua, firmly, "He will wake up, Aqua. We just gotta believe in him." The brunette was doing his best to help his friend feel better about the unconscious blonde.

The bluenette frowned slightly and replied, "I do believe. I'm just really worried about him is all! He's so young; he hasn't even had a chance to live." She was fearful he might never wake up; something about that made her chest hurt.

Her eyes were directed at the floor, so she wasn't ready for Terra's hand to place itself firmly on her right shoulder, giving her flesh a gentle squeeze. She looked up at Terra, seeing he was carrying a reassuring smile. Aqua couldn't help but to smile in return, feeling a tad better as a result.

Master Eraqus was rather pleased to see this interaction between his students. Their camaraderie was a growing strength that could only drive them both to greater heights. Aqua and Terra helped one another grow and mature outside of Master Eraqus's influence and training, which is something that needed to happen. Constant positive influence was the best way for someone to develop good traits.

Clearing his throat and earning the attention of both Aqua and Terra, Master Eraqus greeted them with a smile as he said, "Good morning, Aqua, Terra. How are you both feeling this morning?"

"I think we're ready for the day, Master," Terra answered for himself and Aqua as he made a fist pump; the mage in question made no protest to say otherwise. Aqua looked to Terra as he smirked confidently, a faint smile coming to her lips. He was full of vim and vigor today.

A slow nod came from Master Eraqus; he could tell his students wanted to try their hardest, as well as take their minds off of Ventus's condition. He had plans for a more fast pace training regiment today, but first he would give his students a chance to warm up.

"I can see you have a fire in your bellies today; you both have five minutes to stretch out," Master Eraqus began before he reached in his pocket. After a brief moment, his hand produced a deck of playing cards. Aqua felt her eyes widened briefly as she knew what that deck of cards was for. She hadn't seen this particular exercise in a while. Aqua didn't mind this particular exercise, but it wasn't her favorite test.

Terra smirked widely; this was his _favorite!_ He loved the deck of cards, due to how intense the workout was and how random it was. You never did the same thing twice in a row, not with how the Master shuffled the deck. Ranging from eight counts to casting spells so many times a row, Terra loved it! He also did enjoy the fact there weren't many spells in the deck due to the many physical nature of the test.

"For today, we will be doing a twenty mile run through the mountains after the deck. With weights," Master Eraqus concluded with a knowing grin as Terra's smile faltered some while Aqua's increased. Terra was not a big fan of the Master's runs; Aqua, on the other hand, loved running. "After the run, the two of you will face one another in combat."

Terra looked over at Aqua, who returned the look with a challenging expression. It was clear she was ready to face him in combat today; frankly, Terra was just a gun hoe as she was.

' _It's a mixed bag today, but this will be fun,'_ Terra thought as he began to stretch out his muscles, bringing his right arm across his chest while using the left to hold his limb against his body. Aqua started with her limber legs, bending over and reaching for her toes. Terra felt a faint blush coming to his face as he quickly focused his vision on something other than Aqua.

'… _I_ _ **really**_ _need to stop watching her stretch.'_

* * *

The day had gone by rather quickly, for both Master and students. The deck of cards had lasted quite some time, giving everyone a good pre-run workout. This was followed by another round of stretching, particularly the legs. Then came the intense run to the mountains beyond the normal outdoor training grounds. Carrying twice your body weight for such a lengthy distance would grind down someone who was underprepared, even if they had trained extensively beforehand.

But for the three Keyblade wielders, this was a something they had done several times, sometimes with more weight and less distance; other times, it was the opposite. Furthermore, the run Eraqus, Terra, and Aqua had all partaken in was truly a forty-mile jaunt

Then came the one on one combat, but with a twist: no Keyblades. The resulting brawl that had ensued had been chaotic and intense, but Terra had held the offensive more than Aqua, being more proficient in such matters. Aqua had the sore body to tell the entire universe that Terra was definitely her superior in hand-to-hand combat. She had done her best to keep up, however, not making it easy on him!

Her stomach, in particular, had suffered from a devastating uppercut that had caused her to go into the air, throwing her away from Terra's punch. She then was on her knees, clutching at her sides as she gasped for breath, but she had rose to the challenge. She had repaid him with a vicious heel kick to the ribs that had caused him to buckle onto one knee, dry heaving.

Both of them knew they would be bruised tomorrow; for Aqua, likely tonight. But they had enjoyed pushing one another to their limits. That in and of itself was a victory for both of them.

"Both of you have performed commendably today," Master Eraqus stated to both of his students after concluding today's training in the Main Hall. Aqua and Terra stood at attention before their Master, despite their body's protesting in annoyance.

Then came the surprise for Terra.

"Terra, you are dismissed. Aqua, you will stay here for some extra training."

As both brunette and bluenette chorused their response, Terra felt his brows crunching up in confusion. Why was he being released and Aqua was not? As he turned away from them and started to head out of the Main Hall towards his room, he found himself pondering why she was getting extra time with the Master.

Entering the hallway that would eventually lead to his room, Terra came to a halt, bringing his right hand up to his chin, beginning to stroke it idly. Speaking to himself, he mused, "Maybe she needed an extra hand on something?" There was a pause before he shook his head, tossing aside that possibility.

This was _Aqua_ he was talking about. She did everything to perfection; effortlessly more often than not. So the chances she needed an extra hand was slim to none.

Maybe she was in trouble? Once again, Terra knew that was unlikely. Unless the Master had caught her dabbling in magic he hadn't really approved off, Aqua had likely done nothing to warrant punishment.

"I'll just ask her later tonight; that might be better than trying to figure it out myself," Terra deduced as he dropped his hand back down to his side and resumed his leisurely pace back to his room. He could spend his free time working on an oil painting—after he took a shower, of course. He smelled terrible. He bet he could raise the dead right now.

Still, Terra couldn't really get his mind off of what Aqua and the Master were doing at the moment.

* * *

Rustling noises could be heard as Aqua's dainty hands worked on her latest crafts project: a wreath. The mage had a multitude of pastime hobbies she did when she wasn't training or seeking self-improvement after the conclusion of a day's training; one of them was making wreaths.

Aqua had no desire to do anymore training today; so, after she had cleaned up and ate dinner—by herself, she noted sadly—Aqua found herself working on a decent sized wreath in her room.

Aqua's room was modest in nature: it was nothing more than a large square with a single walk-in closet and a bathroom. The walls were painted a functional gray color, with a few pictures of her family on the wall. There was a single large wooden desk of a walnut color, along with a leather rolling chair; the mage was currently seat at this desk, surrounded by various crafting supplies.

There was a large, walnut colored dresser with a vanity mirror to go along with it. Her bed was Queen sized, covered with four fluffy pillows and a comforter. The comforter itself was white with blue flowers on it, while the pillowcases were plain white. Mixed in were several blue accent throw pillows, along with a single dark blue stuffed bunny proudly displayed in the middle.

There was also a single large bookshelf crammed completely with books about history, magic, theories, and fictional novels. Aqua also had a few more… _frisky_ books mixed in with the serious literature Aqua owned. Of course, she dare not tell anyone she had such books, least she give Terra more ammunition to tease her with.

Today's base for the wreath was grapevine, the task of bending and putting together the vines already completed. Aqua was currently putting on large clutches of green hydrangeas at the base of the wreath, of which Aqua was going to put on four of. She would then line the flowers with greenery and then place on the crowning finish in the center.

As Aqua went about her task, she heard a knock on her door, causing her to pause, eyes darting over to the entrance to her domain. The heavy knock did not belong to Master Eraqus; it belonged to Terra. She pondered what had brought him to her room very briefly before she called out to the brunette behind the door, "My door's unlocked, Terra."

Soon, she heard the wooden door of her room creak open, followed by the shuffling of footsteps. The door was closed gently and was followed by more footsteps that drew closer to her desk. Aqua didn't take her eyes off of her work as Terra came to a stop to her left, inspecting what his friend was doing.

"Makin' another wreath are we?" Terra questioned to the bluenette, who smiled a bit as her hands reached for another set of flowers. She figured it was plainly obvious what she was doing, but Terra was just breaking the ice with her, in order to start a conversation.

"Yeah; I wasn't feeling up to reading any books about spells after today's training," Aqua replied as she began to feed the stems of the hydrangeas into the grapevine. The faint sounds of the wooden vine creaking could be heard as Aqua continued her conversation with Terra, multitasking as she did so. "After all, I'm pretty sure you rearranged my organs with that punch of yours today."

Terra's eye widened a bit as a bit of a scarlet color invaded his tan cheeks. That was a pretty dirty thing to say to him; he didn't like the memory of her coughing and hacking on the ground, despite the fact they had been training so fiercely. He could call in a contradiction of feelings: he promised her he'd never hold back on her early in their training days, but that didn't change the fact he felt bad afterwards.

Looking away from his friend, despite the fact she wasn't even looking at him, Terra responded, "That's a low blow. I'm pretty sure you broke a few of my ribs with that kick today, so I don't even wanna hear it."

"Poor baby."

"Says the girl."

"Oh, now we're pulling that card? Need I remind you that you're in my room, alone? The Master's not gonna bail you out if I Thundara you," Aqua retorted with a smirk as she finally looked at Terra, crossing her arms over her chest. Her right hand held onto a bundle of flowers, making her look adorable, but the stern glare on her face degraded her cuteness factor considerably.

Terra was quick to run through his mind the possibilities: he was close enough he could likely cancel out her casting, but at the same time, she might nail him in the balls. Those boots scared him, so he figured the con of a nut shot was enough to ward him off. Holding his hands up in resignation, Terra replied, "No thanks, I think I like my hair as it is."

"As if it's not messy enough, right? Do you even brush that mess upstairs?" Aqua questioned slyly as Terra frowned in response. Now she was just pushing her own luck, but Terra had a way to get back at her. Looking over at her bookshelf, he asked, "So if you're going to be childish, do I need to break out the _Cat in the Hat_ book for you?"

Aqua turned a bright red at this and replied, "I-I like t-that book!"

"And I like Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I Am."

"Gurr…" came the lowly growl as Aqua suddenly found her wreath to be far more interesting to look at than Terra's smirking face. She began to focus her attention on completing her gift at this point, wanting to change the topic completely. In an attempt to accomplish this, Aqua complained, "Unless you're just here to tease me, I have a wreath to finish for Ventus…"

This was enough to change the nature and tone of the conversation as Terra blinked, losing his cocky smirk as he watched Aqua soldier away at her wreath. By now, he noticed the crowning feature of this particular wreath: a large, white 'V.' He could already tell Aqua had spent a fair amount of time on this, which made him soften his features and almost forget why he had originally come here.

Almost.

Instead, he said, "That's a really nice thing of you to do, Aqua. I'm sure Veus…Vent…Ven…" There was a long, awkward pause as Terra realized he was stupidly having issues pronouncing the blonde's name right. He frowned as he looked away from Aqua again and mumbled, "I'm sure Ven will like his gift."

There was silence before Aqua, with a wide smile, replied, "I'm sure Ven will." She wanted to start laughing so badly right now her entire frame was quivering with contained laughter, but she managed to pull herself together. Regaining her composure, Aqua then said, "So…why did you come here, Terra?"

Terra was secretly glad Aqua had ignored his inability to pronounce _Ventus._ Sometimes, Terra felt like he stumbled so stupidly around Aqua, making him feel inferior to the seemingly perfect Aqua. Aqua the Perfect; that was he had called her at one point in an attempt to belittle her back in the day. Ignoring the spider webs of past memories, Terra then asked, "Why did the Master keep you after training today? Is everything alright?"

Aqua stopped working on her project once again, staring blankly at the V on her desk. She had a feeling he was going to eventually inquire about the extra hour worth of mental training the Master was now going to tack onto her day. She was worried he might get jealous of her when in reality she felt like her gift was a flaw. Still, she promised herself she wasn't going to lie to Terra, so she looked at him and replied, "The Master discovered I have a power to detect darkness within people. I can track darkness users that way, but…it's untrained. I can't really control it and it makes me sick because a lot of darkness…"

Trailing off, Aqua rubbed the back of her head, not really sure how to continue her explanation without using Master Xehanort as an example. Eventually settling with a more open-ended explanation, Aqua finished with, "It can overload my senses and weaken me."

Terra, as he listened to Aqua, felt a pang of familiar jealously come up from the pit of his heart. Sure, it sounded like her ability was not a pleasant one when uncontrolled, but it was just another _gift_ the bluenette seemed to have. She already had a laundry list of gifts as it was; superior magic, impressive grace, greater speed, better handling of stress, better battle planning, better under pressure, and now she could detect darkness to better fight it?

Terra felt his right hand clench into a fist, something Aqua didn't miss. She could see his expression darken, something she didn't like one bit. She was quick to stand up, reaching out for Terra as she hurriedly said, "Terra, you don't have to…"

"I need to be alone," Terra grumbled back as he turned away from Aqua, avoiding her hand as he moved away rapidly. He furthered ignored Aqua's protests at his departure and sudden assumptions that she was being given extra training because she was more gifted than he.

"Terra, please! You have the wrong idea!" Aqua said as he reached her door, opening it and slamming her door angrily, which caused her to jump as a result. She watched her door for a moment before she snapped her head away, feeling tears swimming in her eyes. She was upset that her _ability_ had gotten Terra so angry.

Why did he have to be so _jealous_ of her?

* * *

A couple days had past and Aqua found that Terra wasn't speaking to her much, outside of the bare minimum. Between his sudden attitude change with her and Ventus still not waking up, Aqua though the last few days couldn't possibly get any worse.

Oh, but fate was cruel and had shown her it was very much possible for things to get _much_ worse.

Today, she was not training with Master Eraqus like she normally would; no, today, she was training with Master _Xehanort._

When the day had begun, both Terra and Aqua were surprised to find the far older Master along with Master Eraqus in the Main Hall. Master Eraqus explained his fellow Master had arrived on business matters pertaining to other Masters, as well as checking up on Ventus. He had then offered, much to his friend's pleasure, to assist Master Eraqus in training for the day, allowing for some more rigorous solo training; one student for one Master.

Much to Aqua's horror, she had been passed onto Master Xehanort due to his superior magic skills. According to her Master, they would be a far better fit for one another. She dared not protest however, under the hopes that Terra would see that Master Eraqus still valued the brunette just as much as her.

After following Master Xehanort outside to the training grounds on the plateau near the castle, she found herself inspecting the scenery—the grass, the white stones, the trees, the golden rings, anything _but_ Master Xehanort. She didn't want to be around this man—as hard as she tried to deny it, he unnerved her.

Xehanort folded his arms behind his back, as he seemed deep in thought. He actually was very deep in thought, as he had appearances to keep. The golden-eyed man was also very keen on learning all he could about the blue haired girl, even though he was likely to pass on skills she could later use against him and Vanitas. If he knew what made Aqua Aqua, Xehanort could later use his knowledge on the girl against her.

Aside from that, Xehanort _did_ have a place in his heart for those who value the raw might of magic, in addition to physical prowess. He saw a bit of himself in the girl: hungry for knowledge, determined, and full of potential. If he didn't already have plans and she wasn't so light filled, he might have taken her on as an apprentice instead.

' _Alas, bygones are just that: wishful thinking that has no purpose for one such as myself,'_ Xehanort thought as he turned to look at Aqua. Seeing that she was fidgeting with her hands, Xehanort smirked and broke the windy silence with a question.

"My dear girl, you seem rather nervous. Don't tell me working with one such as myself has you undone?"

Aqua looked at him and rapidly composed herself, replying, "No, sir. I have heard you are rather talented with magic. I look forward to learning anything I can from you."

There was a twinkle in Xehanort's eyes as he listened to the girl's response. He liked such answers; it showed a willingness and drive that was rather shorthanded in today's universe. Gesturing widely with both hands, Xehanort responded, "Ah, that is the answer I prefer to hear, Aqua. You will make a _fine_ Master one day."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, then…let us begin," Xehanort commented as he summoned his own Keyblade in a flash of darkness that made Aqua bite the inside of her cheek some. It wasn't the darkness or even the usage at this point that bother Aqua; it was the unnerving feeling she got from Xehanort. However, Aqua did her best to push back her feelings. This was a man Master Eraqus trusted. She had no right to judge so harshly.

"I want to assess your abilities and make a reasonable judgment of your strengths and weakness. From there, we will not only improve your strengths, but lessen your weaknesses," Xehanort explained as he held out his Keyblade in front of him, ready to engage Aqua in combat. "I want you to attack me with everything you can muster."

Aqua summoned Stormfall with a burst of light, the blue, silver, and grey Keyblade contrasting the mostly silver colorations of her 'opponent's' weapon. She cleared her mind and focused on fighting. Her training about detecting darkness might come in handy today, as Xehanort had a hearty amount. Her ability was still rough, however, so she didn't want to rely on it _too_ much. She made it a point of keeping her traditional senses up.

There was silence as Master Xehanort waited for Aqua to move; he could see she was assessing him as much as he was assessing her. He could tell when she moved that it would be with purpose, confidently and swiftly.

Aqua made her move, flicking her left hand forward as she cried, "Fire!" A blob of flame erupted from her sweeping arm as a Fira rushed forward at Xehanort. The elderly Master prepared to deflect the incoming attack with his Keyblade when he noticed the trajectory of the Fira was off. Much to his amusement, the spell impacted the ground with a crash, creating a cloud of smoke that Aqua was clearly using to cover herself.

A whining noise was enough for Xehanort to duck, Stormfall passed overhead like a spinning blade as it cut through the smoke in the from of a Strike Raid. Xehanort suddenly found himself on the defensive as Aqua burst through the fading smoke with a Fira in both hands, arms drawn all the way back before thrusting them at Xehanort.

The Master rolled away to his left, Aqua's palm strikes instead striking the ground instead, resulting a wave of flames erupting across the ground. Quickly snapping her right hand up to grab the returning form of Stormfall, Aqua darted back from Xehanort's counter thrust aimed at her stomach. Xehanort pressed her immediately; sparks flew as Stormfall deftly deflected rapid, powerful Keyblade strikes. The aspiring Keyblade Master was driven back harshly, Xehanort striking her stomach and chest a few times as he seemed to effortlessly put forth a speed she just didn't expect of the man. Cuts began to appear on Aqua's body were strikes landed and left behind their marks.

Working to regain the offensive, Aqua planted her right foot hard and suddenly lunged at Xehanort with a Barrier Surge. Aqua's translucent dome surrounded her while she darted forward with a sudden burst of speed. Xehanort teleported out of the way in the nick of time, reappearing several feet to her right; still, she was fully aware he was holding back for training purposes. She figured, compared to him, she was standing still she was so slow.

It was time to be a bit trickier. Pivoting as she resumed her assault, Aqua rushed forward, appearing to lift her hand to casted Thundara. Xehanort narrowed his eyes for a moment as he unleashed a longer distant spell, a Blizzaga, which burst forth from his left hand. As the chilly spell flew at Aqua, he was surprised as a she casted a Blizzara instead of a Thundara, bringing her arm down suddenly. He hadn't noticed quick enough the ice gathered at her palm due to the angle in which she had started casting.

Aqua cried out in pain as the _much_ stronger spell from Xehanort plowed into her painfully, making her fly back onto her spine. Coughing and sputtering as she clawed off ice on her chest with her left hand, Aqua glanced at Xehanort to see if her spell worked at all. Much to her pleasure, Xehanort had been caught off-guard, as his left arm was currently covered in steaming ice.

As Aqua scrambled to her feet with a cry, fully ready to engage him in battle and closing the distance, Xehanort found himself enjoying this little training secession. She had actually landed a hit on him, although a relatively minor one, something Vanitas had struggled to do for _hours._ She had succeeded while he had failed. Although he had no illusions of the future, he might as well enjoy himself while gathering the needed intelligence.

Aqua's Keyblade crashed against Xehanort's as they now regularly traded roles between offense and defense. Although she clearly had much to learn as a mage, including working on her casting speeds and realizing she could strike with magic at close range versus long range, not needing the distance to prepare spells, Xehanort could see she would pose a danger to him in the future.

But she could be a perfect way to strength the darkness within Terra. Even if he couldn't drive the two apart, he could tell Terra was fiercely competitive, seeing Aqua as a rival in addition to friend.

Xehanort swept Aqua off her feet with a well-timed kick, seeing surprise bloom on her face as she went onto her side. As she hit the ground hard, Xehanort teleported behind Aqua, darkness pooling into his left hand as she tried to get to her feet quickly. She was too slow and her reward was a Darkra to the back, a blob of freezing darkness exploding on her skin. The blast catapulted Aqua face first into the ground, the woman crying out in pain before she gritted her teeth.

"While you are quite talented with magic and you are creative," Xehanort began as he watched Aqua cast a Curaga on herself, healing any damage done to her. She turned around as he was on her again, driving her back with his speedy, strong Keyblade strikes. "You limit yourself in thought. In application! Magic can be used for both close range and long, but you lack the required speed to apply that method."

Aqua listened to the elderly Keyblade Master as he attempted to disarm her with his weapon, Aqua pulling back and saving herself from Xehanort's Keyblade hooking into hers and pulling it free of her grasp. Aqua cartwheeled away from Xehanort, leveling her Keyblade on him as she attempted to try a new move. She had been studying Shotlocks and how they functioned, so she hoped her unexpected usage would catch Xehanort off-guard.

Instead, Xehanort chuckled as she unloaded a barrage of watery, bubble-like projectiles at him. He waited until the massed volley came flying at him before rushing forward under them. The attack impacted the ground where Xehanort had once been instead, making Aqua's eyes wide in surprise as the elderly Master spoke, "You _are_ talented. Might I ask: did you learn that from a book or has Master Eraqus taught you the basics of Shotlocks?"

"I learned myself…" Aqua replied softly as she elected to remain defensive for now, feeling like he was very much testing her in more ways than one. Xehanort seemed to be pleased with her response, smirking at her as he said, "Then I have much to teach you. I do not believe in talent being wasted; neither does Master Eraqus. After today, I can assure you that you will improve as a mage."

Aqua nodded as Xehanort concluded, "Come, girl. I shall increase your casting speed and pass on another useful trait: teleportation."

Aqua, for the first time today, smiled genuinely at Xehanort. Maybe he _wasn't_ as bad as she thought.

* * *

Training was coming to an end for the day. It had been very good day; a perfect way to end a week before the weekend rolled around. Both Aqua and Terra had learned new skills with their respective tutors, with Aqua successfully learning teleporting and increasing her casting speeds noticeably, while Terra had mastered Ars Solum and successfully performed a couple level two magic spells, such as Fira and Blizzara.

Once again, Aqua and Terra found themselves standing before their Master, but Master Xehanort was also present before he would depart back to his own base of operations.

Seasoned eyes looked from bluenette to brunette, seeing they both looked spent from today's efforts. However, each of them had borne fruit, although Eraqus was honestly quite shocked when Xehanort had told him Aqua could teleport now. He hadn't expected Terra to master Ars Solum on his second attempt, either. He was strongly considering these sorts of secessions in the future.

"Once again, the both of you have met and exceeded today's expectations. Each of you has proven that your determination knows no boundaries. I am quite proud of the both of you," Master Eraqus said to both of his students, seeing pride beam across their features once again. Looking to Xehanort after his own very brief speech, he then inquired of his fellow Master, "Do you have anything to add, Master Xehanort?"

"Indeed, I do," Master Xehanort began as he looked from Master Eraqus to Aqua. His eyes brought all the attention on her in a way she didn't enjoy as he said, "Aqua, you are _indeed_ Master Eraqus's prized pupil. Not once would I expect one so young to have already preformed a Shotlock successful; nor did I expect you to grasp teleporting so effortlessly. I commend your talents."

Terra felt any pride he had from today suddenly get torn down and stomped on viciously. Aqua could teleport now? When in the _Hell_ did she learn a Shotlock? He knew Master Eraqus hadn't actually taught them such a skill, so that meant she had done it on her own time and dime. She was getting so much praise; she was being called the Master's _prized_ student.

' _Why is it that she gets all the praise heaped onto her? I deserve some damn credit too,'_ Terra thought with mounting anger. For a moment, Terra's left hand was covered in flickers of shadow as the darkness manifested in him. Aqua detected it right away, but didn't express her shock as she stood at attention. Xehanort also saw the flicker; he knew he had advanced his goals, even if it was just a small amount. After all, inches added up to feet, feet into miles.

Oddly enough, Master Eraqus didn't catch Terra's darkness or if he did, he didn't show it, much like Aqua. He chuckled at Xehanort's statement, remarking, "Master Xehanort, I value both of my students equally."

' _If you did, then why is Aqua so much…better than me?'_ Terra thought dejectedly as his eyes glanced over Aqua; she seemed to carry a nervous expression, but her feelings were lost on Terra as anger clouded his rational mind. He didn't even hear the Masters dismiss him and Aqua, although Aqua nudged him gently to get him to realize he was free to depart.

He glared at her darkly, which caused her to recoil. Brushing past her roughly, Terra had only one goal in mind now.

Tonight, _he_ was going to teach _her_ a lesson.

* * *

Nighttime had come to Land of Departure. The night sky was clear and cloudless, allowing for a full display of the stars tonight. It was like a canvas of black dotted with thousands of twinkling, beautiful lights. One could see never-ending, fascinating number of things in the sky if they observed long enough.

Normally, Aqua loved to watch the night sky from her favorite perch at the upper mountain training grounds. And with tonight's unusually warm night and with no snow on the ground any longer, it would normally be a perfect night to enjoy stargazing.

But when your friend was so _angry_ with you over things you didn't understand fully, it was difficult to enjoy the breathtaking view. Aqua sighed heavily as she flopped back onto her back, placing her hands under her head as she thought back to the darkness Terra had shown. It had flared up once again, but Aqua just hadn't expected to be the source of flare. Terra's dark expression had been all she needed to know why his darkness had shown.

Aqua didn't want Terra to loathe her; she didn't want the praise Xehanort had lavishly given her. She knew Terra had some insecurity when it came to each of them, but she had hoped they both had gotten over this hump. Aqua had told him over and over that she felt he was better than she at plenty of things. His was stronger physical and better at hand-to-hand combat; Terra was also quicker than he looked as she learned painfully when they had first started training together. He had talents she lacked, such as the ability to paint and draw. He could tell you what was and wasn't safe to eat in the forest. Why he chose to downgrade himself while grumbling over her was a mystery to the bluenette.

Sitting back up before drawing her knees to her chest, Aqua closed her eyes while resting her chin on her knees. She thought of all the good times she had enjoyed with Terra versus the bad. She remembered the time Terra had taught her how to fish and how proud she was to catch her first, even if it was a small, pitiful looking thing. Other memories popped up, like the time Terra and her had made a cake jointly for the Master's birthday. Then there was the time Terra had convinced her to hold a snake, allowing her to get over her fear of them.

Terra had helped her improve more than once. He had always believed in her and encouraged her; in turn she had always been willing to help him, no matter how hard it had been on her or him. She didn't want to think of the bad he had done to her; she knew Terra would come around eventually, as he always did.

Little did she know that Terra had taken today's praise to her quite personally.

A sudden wave of uneasiness passed over Aqua, causing her to shiver some. There was undeniable feeling of dread that infected the air rapidly, causing Aqua to come to her feet. Something was commanding her to head back to the castle; something bad was about to happen. Turning around, Aqua was instead greeted by Terra standing quite some distance from her.

Aqua was immediately on her guard, because Terra had his Keyblade summoned and the dark expression on his face told her he was not here to chat. Aqua dared to speak first as she moved away from the cliff edge, not feeling secure in the location.

"Terra…how did you know I was here and why do you have your Keyblade out?"

Cobalt eyes were never taken off of Aqua's form as Terra increased the grip on his weapon. Her words only seemed to serve the purpose of making him more upset as he replied, "I know you well, Aqua the _Perfect._ Plus, I followed your light to here."

"I hate that name, Terra," Aqua stated in response to Terra, knowing he only used that nickname when he was particularly angry with her. She hadn't actually heard it in years, but it still gave her the same level of hurt as when her friend had first coined it for her.

"Why would you? It fits you perfectly! You always get all the praise; both of the Masters just gave it to you in droves today," Terra retorted harshly as he pointed an accusing finger at her, making the bluenette flinch as a result. He didn't let her reply despite the fact she opened her mouth to speak.

"Everyone thinks you're so much _better_ than me! It's like you don't have any flaws whatsoever; you have more gifts than God himself, it seems like! I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about Aqua the Perfect, Aqua the Amazing, Aqua this and that! It's fucking _bullshit!"_

Aqua's felt her chest constrict tightly as she butt in, trying her best to calm Terra down before something unthinkable happened. Placing her hand over her chest, Aqua said softly, "T-Terra, I don't think I am better than you. Please, just calm down…"

"Shut up! Don't you tell me to calm down! I'm going to show you that you're not better than me," Terra said as he got into that familiar combat stance of his. Aqua was horrified at his actions as he commanded her, spitefully, "Fight me right here and now so I can take you down a few notches!"

"No, Terra! This is insane!" Aqua replied as she continued her efforts to avoid what appeared to be unavoidable. Once Terra committed himself to an action, he very rarely changed course. She didn't want to fight Terra like this; she hated that look of rage that burned in his eyes. But what she hated most of all was how she was on the receiving end of it. She didn't want Terra to act like this!

"No, you say?!" Terra roared with fury as he smashed his weapon into the ground with his full strength, Ends of the Earth impaling the ground deeply and causing Aqua to, on reflex, summon Stormfall. He looked back at her as he tore his weapon free of the ground, dirt caking the ends of the weapon now as he hissed at her, "You're nothing but a stuck-up, bookwormy, self-centered coward then!"

Now Aqua could handle many things, but she was not a coward. She hated when Terra accused her of being one as well. He knew she hated it, hence why he used it on her. Aqua narrowed her eyes dangerously as she lowered her voice, replying with a growl, "I am not a _coward._ Don't you _ever_ call me one!"

"Well, I just did, so what the Hell are you gonna do about it…" there was a short pause as Terra sneered at her and finished with the dreaded word. "…coward."

"Damn it, Terra, shut the Hell up!" Aqua screamed back, her voice finally cracking as she took several angry steps at him. Terra's angry expression didn't falter, nor did he retreat from her as she finally felt the last few days of him ignoring her, treating her poorly, and accumulating in being called a coward by someone she cared deeply about crack her patience, shattering it completely as it was replaced with her own fury.

"I have put up with you treating me like dirt the last few days; I never once complained about it! I let you do these things because I believed you would come around, but instead you…you insult me! You hurt me because of petty crap!" Aqua ranted before she calmed down slightly, panting heavily as she finally got into her combat stance, growling, "You wanna fight? Fine! You'll get your stupid fight, you dull minded brute!"

Terra let out a snarl as he rushed her immediately, ready to dish out some hurt. A small part of his rational mind was screaming at him to cease this foolish, petty action. Aqua didn't deserve to be treated like this because he was so insecure, but he was clouded by the dark clouds that jealousy was.

Ends of the Earth slammed powerfully into the shaft of Stormfall as Aqua gritted her teeth, struggling to hold back the powerhouse that was Terra. Her arm shook as Terra tried to push Stormfall into Aqua's chest. She snarled back at him as she dug her heels into the ground, using it as a springboard to push forward and shove him back. Terra staggered back quite a bit before he ducked to avoid a rather close range Fira.

As the flames passed over his head, he found himself angry that she been able to cast so much faster and at closer range than he was normally used to. But he wasn't going to let that deter him in the slightest now.

Rushing her quickly, Terra chucked his Keyblade like a disk, causing Aqua to cartwheel away. As she did this, Terra slid at her and closed the distance, using his hands to grab Aqua's Keyblade bearing arm as she righted herself. With a roar from her opponent, Aqua was flung through the air and into the bench with a crack, the stone spider webbing under the impact of the mage's body. Her exposed skin was torn in several places as rough surface tore into her hide.

Aqua was gasping in pain from the rough landing, but she had no time to worry about her pain as Terra was once again rearmed, charging her with a fierce cry. His Keyblade was over his head and once he reached her, he was bringing it down in a double-handed strike.

Instead of striking Aqua, Ends of the Earth was slicing into and through the stone bench, cutting it into two even halves. Terra's rage clouded mind was temporarily thrown off; not clearly thinking about the fact Aqua could teleport now. Before he could remind himself of this new ability, Aqua did it for him.

With a bang, Terra's face met the left half of the stone bench, which exploded into fragments. Aqua had teleported behind Terra and brought her Keyblade down onto the back of his head. Rolling away as blood ran from his scalp, Terra watched as the remains of the bench was blown to smoldering bits from another Fira.

Terra counterattacked with a Fire Strike, weapon glowing for a moment before flames surged to life around it. Terra spun powerfully as his flaming weapon crackled through the air, but the graceful mage was quick to slip away from his attack, a hellish glare on her face as she charged into his unguarded form. She landed a few strong Keyblade strikes on Terra's exposed side, metal impacting flesh with _'th-wacks!'_

Staggering back from the blows, Terra was then taken off of his feet by a Blizzara, a chunk of ice striking his stomach painfully and throwing in onto his back. Terra was struggling to comprehend how she had gotten so much faster with her spell casting. How in the world could one secession with Xehanort help her so much!?

Coming to his feet with a roar, Terra's rage was only ignited even more when she smashed her weapon into the side of his face, snapping his head to the left. Blood spurted from Terra's mouth at the ringing blow, the brunette swinging back with his freehand, but Aqua darted back before he landed the blow. His reward for his failure was another Blizzara to the ribs, ice coating him as Aqua said, "You need to cool off!"

Terra felt his eyes narrow dangerously as he and her healed with a Cura and Curaga, respectively, following with Terra surging at her with a series of powerful Keyblade strikes as he did his best to pummel her into submission and prevent her from spell casting. As he attacked, he yelled at her, "This isn't fair! You get one secession with Xehanort and suddenly I can't _fucking_ keep up!?"

Terra's opponent was able to hear him quite clearly, despite the clang of Keyblades as he attacked her aggressively. In but a brief moment, the mage teleported suddenly, causing Terra to stumble as he swung forward at Aqua. It wasn't long before an electrical shock danced across Terra's back painfully, originating from Aqua's Thundara as she yelled back at him harshly, "Stop acting like you're so inferior to me!"

"You don't even understand how it feels, Aqua!" came the retort as Terra turned to face Aqua before the girl could land anymore blows to his back, his body aching at being dealt so many blows so quickly. As he turned, ice formed on his left arm, which thrust forth and released a chilly blue Blizzara spell. Although it taxed Terra more than it would Aqua, the spell came suddenly enough Aqua couldn't dart away nor could she use her Barrier spell.

Aqua hissed as ice exploded on her right arm, making her almost drop her Keyblade as result. She did successfully summon up a Barrier to block the furious Keyblade strikes that followed up Terra's Blizzara, his attacks bouncing off of the nearly impenetrable barricade. Normally, the brunette would have backed off upon seeing the motions for the Barrier spell rather than waste time attacking, but he was so _angry_ he wanted to make her mind hurt as she was forced, once again, to hold up her defenses.

Aqua felt her knee buckled as Terra's rage fueled stamina seemed to be working; soon, the blue haired girl was on one knee, grinding her jaw as Terra continued his assault unabated. It seemed Terra could hold out the obscene pace he was dishing out all day, the brunette smirking as he saw Aqua shaking now, pain taxing her facial features.

However, Terra had grossly misjudged his endurance and it was starting to show. He began to slow down and his attacks started to get sloppy. Aqua only had to wait for an opening, which came along when Terra performed a doubled-handed swing that hit hard, but made him recoil quite a bit.

Terra gacked as Aqua drove her Keyblade into his diaphragm, forcing all the air out of his lungs. His eyes dilated to pinpoints as pain caused him to seize up, making him stagger back and then drop his weapon. Ends of the Earth clattered to the hard ground as Terra went onto one knee, hacking as he tried to get some reinvigorating air into his empty lungs.

Aqua, rather than continue her attacks, stared down at Terra's battered form, not wanting to continue this any longer if she could avoid it. Shaking her head sadly, the mage said in a tone the ringed sorrow, "Why are we doing this? I don't want to see you act like this. I don't understand why you are so jealous of me. Why can't you see that I look up to you too?"

Terra gritted his teeth, coughing up some flecks of blood from his cut lip, before he replied, "Look up to me? Don't give me that shit…"

Aqua let her lingering anger get the better of her as she yelled, "Stop acting like a prick! Every time you let the darkness within you take control, you aren't the Terra I know!"

That was enough for Terra to snap once again.

Aqua's expression shifted from anger to horror as purple, blue, and black tendrils of darkness erupted around Terra, the enraged teenager coming to his feet in a blur of motion. Rage had translated to a sudden, devastating burst of power as a massive blob of blue and black darkness exploded from Terra's right arm.

The bluenette on the receiving end of this attack didn't even scream as the darkness exploded powerfully against her. She flew through the air before hitting the grassy ground, bouncing once before slamming onto her side. Aqua rolled a few more times as Terra watched, panting heavily. Using the darkness so much when he wasn't used to it in an offensive manner had snapped his power. He could only stare as inky blue and black smoke rolled off of Aqua's motionless form.

Finally, seeing what he had done triggered the rational mind of Terra to yank control back from the clouds of rage. Terra's eyes widened in total horror as he realized Aqua wasn't getting up; she wasn't rebounding like she always did from his attacks.

"Aqua? Come on, Aqua," Terra began as he shook, fear flooding his mind. He was praying his words would get some sort of reaction out of the mage, whose eyes were closed and mouth parted slightly. When she failed to reaction, he called more desperately, "Seriously Aqua, get up!"

Still nothing happened. She didn't even groan.

"Oh…oh God…" Terra stuttered as he took several shaky steps back from his friend. In his mind, Terra had done something no one could forgive him for: he had killed his best friend. He had killed the only person who had accepted his inner darkness for what it was and never judged him for it. Tears began to run down his face as his hands darted up and over his face.

What the Hell was he going to do? He had become a murderer in the blink of an eye, all because he was petty. All because he was so stupid and didn't talk to Aqua. His petty jealousy over the fact she was better than him had taken away his friend. Now, the last thing he would remember would be this! It was hardly the way Terra wanted to part ways with someone he cared so deeply about.

Terra, as he grieved, was not prepared for what came next: a viciously powerful explosion on his chest that took away his breath painfully. Whatever it was, it was Holy based and it sure had hurt like Hell. White light blinded him before he found himself on his back, looking up at the stars. Convinced his Master had seen what he had done and was rightfully punishing him, Terra closed his eyes and awaited his fate.

Instead, a voice he was overjoyed to hear said to him angrily, "You know, I'm not that fragile."

His body protested his rapid action to propping himself up on his elbows, a stupid smile coming to his tear stained face as he saw Aqua, her right arm leveled at him and crackling with wisps of white light, slowly walking at him. Her arm dropped to her side as she was breathing raggedly. Her entire front was in tatters, outfit in ribbons and stomach burned. But Terra was giddy she was _alive._

Soon, his smile faded as Aqua moaned and toppled onto one knee just short of reaching Terra, holding herself up shakily. Terra wanted to rush to her, but he found himself unable to summon the energy to move. In addition, he was now afraid she hated him for using the darkness so callously on her.

"Y…you're an idiot, Terra. You're so stupid! H-How could you let it get this bad!?" Aqua yelled at him as she too began to cry, emotions overwhelming her. She hiccupped as she let all her own bottled up hurt out, looking away from him as she said, "We're friends; we're supposed to h-help one another, not hurt one another! I care so m-much about you and it hurts me that you're so jealous!"

Looking directed at the wide-eyed Terra, she demanded of him, "Why!? I w-want to kn-know why!"

Terra was ashamed. Aqua was right; he had let this go too far. He had allowed this to happen, goading her into a fight she didn't want. He had hurt her feelings and hurt her physically. And seeing her sobbing so weakly, demanding he explain his stupid actions, was only adding to his guilt. He never took his eyes off of her as he continued to cry, letting out a painful sob.

"I'm so sorry…" Terra began as Aqua watched him, swallowing down a lump in her throat as he apologized to her at first. "I have always been afraid!"

Aqua's eyes widened as Terra blubbered on as he went back down onto his back, using his forearm to cover his eyes and cry. "I'm afraid of just always following you closely. I am afraid of just always being forced to live in your shadow. The brightest light makes the greatest shadow…Aqua, I don't want to be your shadow. I want to be your equal!"

Aqua bit her lip at this. Terra was afraid of living in her shadow? Why? Because he was not as good as her, something he seemed to claim repeatedly during their fight? The bluenette wasn't sure how to reply to Terra, but her heart seemed to have the answers as she spoke before her mind could create any answer for her.

"Terra…I felt the same way."

This caused Terra to blink several times as he tried to wipe away the tears. Was she trying to ridicule him once again? Terra immediately realized this wasn't the case judging from the tone her voice carried. It was weak and vulnerable; Aqua was exposing her fears to him. He asked her, carefully and softly, "W-What do you mean?"

Without missing a beat, Aqua replied, "I am afraid I'll never be enough because I'm a girl. People see me training under the Master and think, 'Her, a warrior? She's too dainty.' They think I'm like glass. I'm afraid I'll never be as strong as you because I'm a female; I'll never be able to handle the strain of real combat…"

Looking to Terra, Aqua asked meekly, "Terra, am I like glass to you? Do you…do you think I'll break because I'm just a girl? I want to be _your_ equal too, even if our strengths are so different; even if our weaknesses are totally on different spectrums."

Finally, for Terra, it clicked. All this time he had never once thought that she had the same feelings of rejection and weakness like he. He had never once thought she would feel inferior to anyone. Aqua seemed confident in everything she did; nothing could deter her.

But seeing her so sad like him, so vulnerable like he was, made him realize that she was just like him in so many ways.

Terra forced himself up so he could crawl to her, grasping onto her as he cried into her and she into him. As they mended their wounds with one another's tears, Terra's reply was not lost onto Aqua under the night sky.

"You are not glass. You are Aqua and no one can t-take away the fact you're brave and strong."


	4. Chapter 4

_**CHAPTER FOUR: THROUGH THE GLASS**_

 _Spying has gone on since ancient times—Vladimir Putin_

* * *

It had been a year and a half worth of brutal, rigorous training. Between the crushing beatings for failures and the limited amount of praise the old man gave him, Vanitas was sure that Xehanort was trying to instill a level of hardiness that couldn't allow Vanitas to be defeat by anyone short of Xehanort himself. Of course, the old man would remind him on a regular basis that he was still a weakling to Terra and Aqua, much to his chagrin, but he felt like he was vastly strong than the half he had been separated from.

Ventus had woken up a few days after arriving at Land of Departure, while Xehanort had done a few visits in order to keep his standings with Eraqus, as well as keep an eye on how all three of his fellow Master's students were developing. So far, Ventus was very much behind his peers, which Vanitas wasn't shocked about, but made no mention of how stupid he thought the old man was for so keenly focusing on Ventus and Vanitas reuniting. Vanitas didn't want to rejoin with Ventus, not after he had seen how underwhelming the blonde was.

This feeling was constantly reinforced by the negative feedback Vanitas perceived on how slow Ventus was progressing even under the experienced hand of Master Eraqus. If someone as talented as Eraqus was failing to bring Ventus up to speed, then what was the point?

Of course, that left Vanitas with a problem: who the Hell could he merge with? He needed to have someone that was full of light with minimal darkness within them. He hadn't seen a replacement thus far. And with how dead set Xehanort currently was on Ventus, he knew he couldn't just suggest a person even if he found them. No, he was going to have to do his own footwork, followed by keeping it hidden.

Now, Vanitas was given a new task, coming after a rare, but highly appreciated, break in training at the Keyblade Graveyard.

"Vanitas, my boy…" Xehanort began as he stood upon a grey stone pillar, staring off in a westerly direction. His arms were folded, as usual, behind his back as the winds lazed particles of dust through the air. The tone of seriousness the old man's voice carried indicated that something new was brewing. Knowing his had his pupil's attention, Xehanort continued in his low tone. "I believe you are ready for the next phase in both your training and our goals."

This was careful wordage in order to ensure Vanitas didn't fully understand how much of a pawn he really was. Xehanort made him feel equal in the grand scheme, despite how rough he treated his _partner._ His usage of the world 'partner' was very limited; it didn't have much stock behind it.

"What might that be, Master?" the masked boy inquired, genuinely interested in what his Master had to say. Sure, Vanitas was normally engaged in his conversations with Master Xehanort seventy percent of the time, but sometimes, Xehanort rambled a lot. And Vanitas didn't exaggerate at how _long_ those ramblings went.

"Today, you shall start spying on Terra, Aqua, and Ventus in order to gleam understand in their styles of combat. I doubt you will see everything they know, but the more you understand them, the easier it will be to deal with them," Xehanort stated, catching Vanitas off-guard. This was not expected from the old man, who had been doing everything to keep Vanitas hidden from the universe at large until the time was right, of course.

Cocking his head a bit at his newest marching orders, Vanitas could feel a bit of a smirk coming to his face. Now this was going to be challenging; furthermore, he understood why Xehanort had been so _adamant_ about teaching Vanitas how to conceal his presence. Because Aqua could detect darkness—a bit of information Xehanort had learned from Eraqus—Vanitas would have had no chance to spy unless he could counter that ability.

Of course, this suppression skill wasn't fool proof. If he got too close, she'd still likely detect him. That would it; his goose would be cooked.

"I understand, Master," Vanitas said evenly in order to contain his growing excitement. These orders would allow him time to escape Xehanort's confinement, see a bit of the universe he would be saving in the future, and prove for some freedom.

Freedom. How Vanitas desired it.

"Do not mistake this mission as an attempt to have some fun," Xehanort warned as he now turned to look in the direction of Vanitas, his gaze resting on the dark figure below him. "Should you fail and get captured, you will deny any association with me. I will not come galloping to retrieve you. If you break and tell your captors you have ties to me, I will deny ever knowing you. Is that clearly understood, boy?"

Well, there it was: Vanitas knew there was a catch attached to his package of freedom. He didn't really expect any silver lining in this coat; just more lead. Having expected this, Xehanort sure didn't disappoint. Nodding as the start of his response, Vanitas retorted, "Trust me, you won't need to worry 'bout that. As far as the universe is concerned, I don't exist. I'll keep it that way so you can keep your _precious_ image." Although tempted, Vanitas didn't add the words 'old coot' to the end of his sentence. Xehanort was feeling generous, so now wasn't the best time to spit on his generosity.

Xehanort didn't give a verbal reply to Vanitas, just a simple nod before turning back to the original direction his yellow eyes had settled on.

Vanitas didn't waste any more of his precious time. Quickly, he opened a Corridor of Darkness to Land of Departure, making sure it appeared in a desolate stretch of forest some distance away from the castle proper. Before the masked boy, a bubble of grey, black, and purple darkness appeared. The bubble grew into a gateway, inviting Vanitas into its maw.

Darkness gave Vanitas no cause for concern or fear: he was the embodiment of darkness, after all! Into the gateway Vanitas walked, confidently.

* * *

When Vanitas walked out of the other end of his Corridor of Darkness, he immediate enjoyed the change of scenery. He had grown used to the never changing tones of his 'home:' the grey stone, the sun baked ground, the dusty air in which death and decay hung in, and the heat. In every conceivable way, Land of Departure was the fold to the Keyblade Graveyard.

The sun was bright, but not bearing down on one's back like it did at the Keyblade Graveyard. Big, white, puffy clouds hung in the blue sky above, floating careful to whatever the winds took them. The wind was light and playful versus the harsh gusting Vanitas was trained in. There were heavy mountain grades all over the place versus the nominally more flat Graveyard, steep enough that Vanitas had to watch his footing unless he wanted to take a quick trip to the bottom.

But most of all there was color.

There were trees thick with a canvas of green leaves, full of birds that sung happily to anyone who wanted to listen. Vanitas could hear and see a stream flowing quickly down the side of the rugged mountain he was on, water beating against ancient rocks, carving a path to the larger bodies of water they settled into. The grass was rich and lush; the flowers bright and cheery.

So many smells could be detected by Vanitas's nose. Fresh, clean air mixed with sweeter smells, like flowers. There was no noticeable death in the air here. It was so peaceful that Vanitas found he actually _liked_ this place a lot.

At the same time, he was immensely jealous his weaker half got to enjoy this place with his friends. It annoyed him greatly that someone so soft got such a cushiony place to train. He got to have friends, enjoy the better weather, and likely got better living conditions if that castle Vanitas spotted in the distance was any clue. The more Vanitas saw and assumed, the angrier he felt.

He growled darkly at the thoughts, but unlike when he had been first made, Unversed didn't spawn. He could generally control his creating of Unversed; only when he either willingly created them or let his emotions get to him would they appear. Here was not the best of times to allow Unversed to appear, so he calmed down in short order, becoming less angry and dourer instead.

' _Ain't you just a lucky one, Ventus. You get to have all of this to play in, but it ain't gonna help you,'_ Vanitas thought with a smirk, feeling like he was born to be superior and tougher. He had handled the place Ventus couldn't, so he wasn't feeling as jealous as before. Now he was feeling pretty pleased with himself at this perceived superiority.

Moving on from his thoughts about his weaker half, Vanitas started to head to the castle. He had to get to spying and intelligence gathering. There was no reason to waste anymore of his brainpower on his other half. Moving on the ground in order to use the canvas as camouflage, Vanitas was putting his efforts into pre-planning.

As it stood, he was not going to be able to get too close to any of the four people located here, not with his red and black mash of colors. He was already regretting his hasty departure; he should have considered wearing different attire in order to better blend with the environment. Xehanort was sure to chide him for his incredible stupidity for wanting to get going prior to actually thinking about his mission. If Xehanort did anything _other_ than berate him, Vanitas would be shocked beyond words.

As he scaled down the mountain at a controlled, steady pace, Vanitas began to put together his mission objectives. His first objective was to avoid Master Eraqus at all costs. If the man was powerful enough to handle hits from Xehanort's magic, then he was most likely far outside the masked boy's league, as much as it pain him to admit. He might see himself as powerful, but Vanitas wasn't going to let his ego blind him. In addition, Xehanort hadn't told him to spy on the Master, further fueling his reasoning in avoiding the light wielding powerhouse.

Secondly, he wanted to see all three pupils together if he could, but if not, he'd catch them the best he could. After all, Vanitas wanted to see who was closest to whom, so he could target their bonds in the future in order to drive wedges between them. What better way to do that than learning everything you could about an enemy without them knowing it? They would be exposed, unguarded, and they'd never even know it.

He then prioritized which of the three would require the most attention from him. For now, he put Terra on the bottom of his list. Sure, the brunette was strong, but Vanitas wasn't going to use him as a meat puppet. That was all Xehanort's forte. Aqua would be next on the list, due to her dangerous ability, and the fact she had a motherly air about her. She would rush to defend her friends, he was already certain of this. That put Ventus at the top, since he was the primary target, and the one that Vanitas 'had' to merge with.

' _Well, primary for Pedonort, but not so much me…fuck my life,'_ Vanitas thought drily as paused atop a large boulder, surveying the rough terrain around him. Picking out his path, Vanitas resumed his trek to the castle beyond. He wasn't sure what awaited him, but he couldn't seem to shake a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt like something was going to happen today, but he just didn't know what.

Shrugging his shoulders for a moment as he moved along, Vanitas did his best to keep his mind on the mission ahead.

* * *

Whether one could call it dumb luck, skill, or a combination of both, Vanitas had chalked up today's spying has pretty successful thus far. He had not once seen the Master of the castle, which made him tickled silly. He was not keen on meeting the aged Master anytime soon either as it would likely result in having his guts removed from his body in a bloody, destructive fashion. Although he wasn't sure he fully believed Xehanort about his brother's hatred of the darkness, he wasn't about to try and discredit or validate them either.

Then there was Terra and Ventus. Today must have been a off-day or their training had been done, neither of which Vanitas wasn't sure of, but he had seen both his other half and the meat puppet training in a courtyard just outside the castle without their Master around. He had enjoyed watching the much larger, older male furiously chastise Ventus, causing him to cry, but had immediate wanted to puke up his guts when Terra had quickly apologized for his rude behavior.

Could Ventus get any softer? Around here, it looked that was just what was happening. Vanitas really wanted to plant his foot somewhere between Ventus's colon and ribcage. Of course, he also didn't want to get his boots covered in that slime, but sometimes you just had to make some compromises.

From what he could gauge, Terra was not fast in terms of speed. The lack of speed translated into a hefty amount of raw strength, as Terra had bent a steel rod roughly seven inches thick into the shape of a pretzel without breaking a sweat. It was clear he favored brutal force in solving his problems, as he sure didn't seem to have any flair in holding a conversation. His Keyblade perfectly represented what Vanitas saw in Terra: big, heavy, dull in coloration, and entirely too much.

And with all of the power came darkness. Vanitas could see it within the brunette, like a vast oil well waiting to be drilled into and unleashed. He could see why Xehanort wanted to use that darkness as an ark to survive. Regardless, Vanitas couldn't help but to pity the guy. His fate was not looking too good.

If given a choice, Vanitas would take death over being someone's meat suit.

Then came the wet noodle Ventus. If Vanitas had been merely disappointed in what he heard, then now he was absolutely horrified. His speed wasn't shabby, but the sheer lack of strength allowed even sluggish opponents to shrug off Ventus's blows and land ringing counterattacks, something Vanitas had borne witness to repeatedly when Terra sent Ventus sailing through the air _even when Ventus blocked!_ And the way he held his Keyblade was just stupid. How in the Hell did he even swing his weapon properly holding it _backwards!?_ They could not seriously be allowing him to train that way.

If he was going to draw any conclusions after a single day, there was not frozen chance in the boiling cauldron that was Hell would Vanitas lower himself into merge back with his other half. No amount of punishment or pain from Xehanort was going to change the titanium resolve Vanitas had achieved on the matter.

Now, there was just one matter left as Vanitas prowled around a pathway that he had heard Terra mentioned led to other training grounds. He had also mentioned the source of Vanitas's matter was training at the lower training grounds, alone, which was unusual for her to do so.

However, Aqua alone would have to work with Vanitas. There would be other chances for him to see her interactions with twiddle dee and twiddle dumb. For now, he would just have to work with whatever opportunities came his way.

He had to be extremely careful now, due to the decreasing amount of plant life he had to work with in order to shroud his physical appearance. The entire castle was a hazardous place for an intruder to remain undetected, so Vanitas could see why Xehanort was trying to impress the need for caution upon him. He was not going to come back here so underprepared next time. It was just too dangerous.

As Vanitas reached the lower training ground, he felt his right eye twitch with ire. Not a single soul was around in the empty grounds, the winds lazily pushing around two separate sets of golden rings. One set was mounted on a rotating head, allowing them to spin around and around with whiny creaks. The wind was stronger here, Vanitas noted, closer to the level he was used to.

' _Maybe the girl came here to strengthen herself. Or maybe she likes the view, how do I know?'_ Vanitas thought as a small frown came to his face. Looking around quickly, Vanitas realized there was a barren pathway that led even higher up. To what, he wasn't sure, but he could reasonably go out on a limb and assume more training grounds.

The only issue was the higher up he went, the less cover he had and it looked like he'd have nothing to work with up any higher. Now, Vanitas had a set of choices. He could withdraw right now and come back another day, he could chance going higher up, or he could wait a bit and see if Aqua would make an appearance down on the lower training grounds.

Settling quickly on waiting at the lower training grounds and then leaving within a timeframe of fifteen minutes, Vanitas stayed in the large tree perched above the training grounds, which gave him a good view of the doubled tiered terrain. Here, he would be able to see anyone leaving or arriving.

As he waited, Vanitas found himself building up a mental image of this Aqua girl. He figured she wasn't likely a girl, but older. So calling her a girl had to be inaccurate and he made himself stop calling an older woman a 'girl.' He figured with her being so motherly, she was not likely too attractive and short. She would be good at cooking and baking, using her magic to avoid any heavy physical work. He also expected her to have blue eyes to match her name. And he struggled to envision Aqua besting Terra in combat, despite her supposed power. If she did, then that meant Terra was just poorly trained or her experience gave her a superior edge. He was figuring the latter of the two.

' _So, I get to look forward to a short, chubby, bubbly idiot. Aren't I just a lucky fucker,'_ Vanitas groaned as his yellow eyes lazed back and forth over the grounds, inspecting the small, shallow pond that dotted the mountain side. The stone here was a brilliant white color, adding a bit more flavor to the color palette Vanitas had experienced thus far. He was certain this terrain was the better of the two things he would be looking at in this area.

A few minutes passed and Vanitas was getting bored. Terra was more interesting than this and he was a dull as a box of rocks!

Ten minutes came and went. As the time ticked away, the masked boy found himself regretting staying. However, he had made the choice, so he'd stick with it.

Five minutes left; Vanitas had been able to find the rock walls had faces. Someone of them were actually pretty stupid looking, especially the face located on his extreme left.

Vanitas shook his head. He was losing his focus.

Time was filing away; time Vanitas wasn't going to get back. The masked boy flexed his hands slowly, as if that was how he was measuring the passage of time.

The appointed time had come and gone. Much to the disappointment of Vanitas, no one had shown up. In his preparation to leave, Vanitas noted that he should have brought something to pass the time with—' _Hey, there's a person coming down the upper pathway,'_ his mind said in-between his other thoughts—so that next time, he wouldn't be so bored. Or maybe he just needed to work on his attention span.

His body froze mid-motion. _'Wait. A person,'_ he thought slowly as his mind scrambled to bail out of the mess his thoughts had suddenly become.

Vanitas blinked and did a double take. Quickly aborting his plans for departure, the dark enigma realized his last target had made her appearance. What Vanitas was seeing did not meet the criteria for what he was envisioning. Vanitas normally hated being wrong; it was just another sign of inner weakness. But this time, Vanitas was actually quite giddy he was wrong.

Was she short and fat? Absolutely not: she was slender, curvy, and was taller than he, looking to only be a bit shorter than Terra. She had a form that screamed physical fitness. She was currently using that body in a dead sprint down the pathway, wearing form fitting clothing and weights.

Obviously, she took her training seriously, much like Captain Boulder did.

He could see why her name was Aqua: her eyes and hair matched her name perfectly, her face contorted in a mask of determination, while her hair stuck to her sweat coated skin. She was not old; she couldn't be more than twenty years of age. She did have a more mature face, though.

Her Keyblade further added to her. No, Vanitas was quick to correct himself: it fit her perfectly, much like Terra's fit him. For her, it radiated strength in a different way. It was slender, blue, graceful, and just enough.

But what _really_ brought Vanitas's heart to a full on racing was the light. Her light was nearly overwhelming. It was bright, so very bright. If one could capture that light and see what it looked like, there was no doubt it would be a white hot star. This woman's light was so searing that it made Vanitas's body twitch involuntarily.

He did notice, as Aqua reached the end of her sprint and flawlessly went from running into attacking the golden rings with magic, her light was tainted faintly with a hue of darkness. How he noticed such a thing was really meaningless. All that ultimately matter was that _he_ noticed it.

Vanitas watched as a Firaga spell erupted from her left hand in an orange blaze of glory, exploding against one of the rings powerfully. This was almost immediately followed by a Blizzaga, which struck a different ring and flash froze it instantly. A shockwave of yellow light in the form of a Thundaga further punished the golden rings before she switched to physical attacks. She twirled, flipped, and spun gracefully, making her attacks seem more like expertly performed dance moves.

By now, Vanitas could feel the familiar well of hatred and jealously come flaring to life in his heart. While he was stuck in some dust ball of a world, Ventus was babied with all this color and life. Ventus got friends; he didn't. If the blonde got to be around something so powerful and loving, why couldn't Vanitas, who was the better half, get the same thing? Looking back to Aqua as she paused in her training, Vanitas wanted to be around motherly if it involved something like _her._

He wanted everything Ventus had. The blonde didn't deserve any of it! He was going to make damn sure that when the time came, he would make Ventus feel all the pain he felt a thousand times over.

For a time, Vanitas watched the bluenette as she practiced for another hour. How he managed to keep himself suppressed for so long was beyond him, but he managed to succeed. He realized she did favor magic, but had no issues using her Keyblade to smash someone's face in. She was less aggressive than Terra, but she wasn't highly reserved or defensive either. She definitely had the speed to keep up with Vanitas.

' _She's leaving,'_ Vanitas realized as Aqua dismissed her weapon and began to head in the direction of the castle. He found he couldn't tear his gaze away from Aqua as she left, even reaching out at her retreating form like a mewling kitten craving its mother.

After she was gone and Vanitas had calmed himself down, he quickly departed via a Corridor of Darkness. He had so many feelings clashing with one another right now and not all of them were negative. But he was sure of one thing.

He was coming back here to see her again and again.

* * *

It was amazing how much you could learn in three months of constant observation. You didn't need to even go too often, but Vanitas went four times as week, randomizing his days as much as possible. It was taxing to be both training and spying, but Vanitas was had quite the endurance. He was going to put it to full use.

He had seen Master Eraqus in a close call; he had learned the man did loathe darkness quite a bit, calling for its eradication. He had also learned he was firm with his students, but also fatherly. He played games with them, he would cook with them, and he would guide them. He was not afraid to punish as needed, but his punishments were ones that taught lessons without inflicting constant torment. In more ways than one was Master Eraqus the opposite of Master Xehanort.

Plus, time was far kinder to Eraqus than to Xehanort, a fact Vanitas found to be humorous.

Terra was a determined fellow. He was actually quite good at painting, something Vanitas had caught him doing a few times outside. He fished and hiked in the mountains. He was not the best at magic, but he was skilled at anything involving physical strength. He did things with fearlessness; but he was afraid of his darkness, hiding it as best as he could from his Master and confiding in Aqua.

Ventus was, as expected, full of optimism. He never seemed to be down on himself, he always took things, even failures, with a smile. He treated Terra like a big brother and looked up to him considerably. He loved to fly kites, he enjoyed fishing, and he mapped star constellations. How he managed to have the patience for that, but not sitting still, was really something that befuddled Vanitas.

Then there was Aqua. The woman was strong, determined, fearless, had artistic talent, and was easy on the eyes. She was gifted as a mage, limber, and caring. She was the castle's best cook and baker, as everyone loved what she made (Vanitas would be lying if he said he hadn't stolen an apple pie or two to sate his sweet tooth). She always sought to correct failures when they came and never let them hold her back on improving.

The more he watched the trio and their Master, the more his hatred grew, however.

Vanitas hated Terra because of how close he was to Aqua. She cared deeply for both Ventus and Terra, but she and Terra had a much tighter bond than her and Ventus had. Vanitas was sure Terra had more than feelings of friendship for the bluenette. Whenever he needed extra help, she was there to bail his ass out.

Ventus was constantly on the receiving end of Aqua's playful affection. She treated him so nicely, showering him with sweet encouragement and love. She was extremely protective of Ventus, much like an older sister was over her baby brother. Whenever Terra would play pranks on Ventus or hurt his feelings, Aqua was there to give him an earful. And Vanitas _really_ hated his other half now.

No, it wasn't even worth calling Ventus his other half. Ventus was nothing more than a piece of trash Vanitas didn't need anymore. Vanitas was himself and not a part of Ventus. He had long since outgrown the need for the blonde.

But something else came to Vanitas the more he silently observed. He had discovered he wanted to get closer to Aqua. A part of his mind nagged at him relentlessly to get closer to Aqua. She was like a toy he wanted to have, but wasn't tall enough to reach.

All because Xehanort forbid him to enter the castle or get too close, least his cover be blown and Vanitas would find himself in a prison, rotting away until his presumed execution.

But resisting his inner desires was becoming progressively harder with each passing visit. He _wanted_ it, but when he couldn't have it, his anger of being denied fueled the creation of Unversed.

Eventually, he knew he would have to find a way to either satisfy his desire or kill it. Considering he would much rather satisfy versus murder, Vanitas elected to do something he knew Xehanort would likely punish him painfully for.

He would go at night and into the castle.

Vanitas was going to have his way, to Hell with the consequences!

He already knew which window belong to Aqua's room. He knew her routine and when she went to sleep. She felt like her room was the safest place she could be, but Vanitas was going to show her without her even knowing it that the darkness could come and go as it pleased even within her domain.

He was the embodiment of the darkness that lusted for her.

Slipping away from Xehanort undetected had proven to be easier than expected, as the old Master was sleeping under a protective barrier of magic. Whatever the reason he did this, it allowed Vanitas to get outside of the cave they stayed in and through a Corridor of Darkness.

He had picked this night based the weather patterns. Tonight was warm, so when he came through her window, the sudden drop in temperate wouldn't be there to wake her up. And at one in the morning, she would be in a deep enough sleep that her ability to detect Vanitas's darkness would be likely dulled. Add in the suppression ability, and Vanitas would have plenty of time to fulfill his desire of getting closer.

Scaling the castle had been time consuming, but considering the need for stealth, Vanitas knew it had to be done. As he crawled along the stone surface off the castle, he carefully planned his route, avoiding any windows that didn't belong to his target, and staying away from the few sleeping birds he saw along his way up.

As he reached the bluenette's window, he was particularly surprised to find it open. The blinds were pulled back, allowing the night air and moon light to pour into the room. Vanitas felt himself grin. Normally, she kept her window shut; tonight was his lucky day.

Up he went.

Slipping into Aqua's room with all the grace of a cat, Vanitas stood to his full height, eyes looking around at her room. The room was modest, organized, and smelled of lavender. Aside from that, the masked boy didn't spend much time looking at the objects within the room. His attention was drawn quickly to his right, to the sleeping form of Aqua herself.

Vanitas's heart began to pound more. He had never been this close to her and her light, but he found himself getting closer still. His yellow eyes greedily drank in her form, which was currently sprawled out on her bed.

Her skin was light in coloration and today Vanitas could see a lot of it. She was wearing an oversized grey T-shirt that had rolled up under her enough to reveal her stomach, the light blue panties of bikini style she wore, and her long legs. She wasn't wearing a bra either, because Vanitas could see a bit of under boob. Her mouth was parted slightly as she breathed lightly, her right arm pulling a stuffed bunny up to her body.

' _You're beautiful,'_ Vanitas thought in awe as he stood next to her bed. Right now, he just stared at her body, eyeballing every detail of her. One thing he noticed was she had a couple scars on her body: one was one the top of her hand, appearing to be a burn of some sort roughly the size of a half dollar. There was another scar, given to her by a blade, on the top of her forearm. It was about four inches long.

Aside from that, her body was not marred by anything.

Vanitas felt something between his legs, a tightness that hadn't been there moments ago. He groaned a bit, but quickly felt a chill of terror pass through his body when she shifted slightly, her face crunching up. It was clear his darkness was disturbing her rest. She was affecting him as well, as his darkness was shifting heavily and the tightness in his pants never left him, instead getting worse.

Still, Vanitas wasn't ready to depart.

He was sure he could touch her. He wanted to touch her badly. His suit parted to reveal his left hand, which then slowly began to inch out to her sleeping form.

Soon, his hand was on her smooth stomach, feeling it rise up and down slowly as she breath. She was so warm to his touch, both from body heat and from the light within. His hand began to rub her stomach in small circles.

Soon, his hand moved down her hips, along her thigh, then back up to her stomach. Her skin was so damn smooth and it was making Vanitas's fingertips tingle and his heart flutter. He wanted to touch all of her, but he knew he needed to steel himself against such course of actions.

Many other deadly thoughts raged within his foul mind, imagines of her moaning and squirming under him plaguing him. He wondered how she tasted. Other imagines, more pleasant in nature, invaded his mind, like her saying that she loved him and felt like he was better than Ventus.

Now those feelings were invading his body, making him warmer. He felt lust and desire raging to burst forth, commanding him to take her. Xehanort had never explained _sex_ to the black-hearted monster that was Vanitas, but he had an idea of what it was. He knew he was feeling lust and attraction now, on top of his longing for her light and companionship.

Aqua groaned a bit, making Vanitas jolt slightly, eyes darting to her face to gauge if she was about to wake up. Vanitas stopped breathing and his hand froze. Seeing her lick her lips some, but otherwise make no moves, Vanitas calmed down some, pulling his hand away like it was on fire.

He needed to leave, right now. He was about to do something irrational, which normally he wasn't against, but he was deep in enemy territory, alone, and not ready to face someone in combat.

As Vanitas withdrew slowly to her window, he looked back at Aqua. A smile came to his face. While he was going to have to keep his plan a complete secret and play along with Xehanort, he knew he had found the _one_ to merge with. With Aqua, he could create a perfect X-blade and her glorious light would be his forever. She would be his; no one else's.

He would lead her into the darkness.

"Aqua, you can't escape me. You don't know it yet, but you belong to me," Vanitas said with a voice full of desire and lust.

And with that, Vanitas departed out the window with a jump, flying into a Corridor of Darkness below as he tumbled down. When he returned to the Keyblade Graveyard, a furious Xehanort greeted him. And even as the blows rained on him, Vanitas never stopped grinning.


	5. Chapter 5

_**CHAPTER FIVE: DOWN MEMORY LANE**_

' _Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.'—L.M. Montgomery_

* * *

The time for the Mark of Mastery Exam was drawing progressively closer now. Aqua and Terra had been training harder than ever before for the test forthcoming and now the end seemed to be coming. In just six months, the fruits of year's worth of effort would be put through its paces.

In six months, both Aqua and Terra would succeed in their dreams or only one. In fact, it was possible both would fail.

Six months was a blimp of time.

Maybe to others, six months was agonizingly long, dragging slowly onward as the clock ticked away. In all reality, the perception of time was what made it seem to move slower or faster. To someone like Master Eraqus, six months was almost like closing your eyes during a critical moment with a loved one and missing it. Such moments were impossible to recreate, impossible to replicate.

So between the training and business of contacting other Masters willing to attend the Mark of Mastery Exam in order to add their vote into who would become a Master, Master Eraqus did the only thing an aging man did.

He made memories.

He took pictures.

Maybe the reason why Master Eraqus loved pictures and making scrapbooks was that pictures did something a mind couldn't always do: it captured a moment of time that could never be re-done. Pictures were truly worth a thousand words.

Master Eraqus knew that he was aging, likely in the very limits of his prime. His time in the universe was finite. As such, he wanted to make sure he did everything he could to make positive memories outweighed any of the negatives. His own Master taught Master Eraqus that life wasn't measured by how many breaths one took, but by how many moments took one's breath away.

The universe could be a wicked place. It was full of tragedy and pain. Each one of the wise man's students were precious to him. In him, they placed their trust and faith, told him their darkest secrets, and cried on his shoulder when something hurt them. Master Eraqus felt blessed every day he spent with these young, bright people; he was blessed to be their teacher, that they had ultimately wanted him to teach them so they could accomplish their dreams.

If he could, he would give them wings and make them Masters right away, but alas, he also knew that such a title was _earned,_ not given.

So, Master Eraqus found his hand guided to a scrapbook he had created and placed out into the living room of the castle. He had placed it here so all of his students could look through the days of past. Here, in this worn leather bound book, the colors of past living could come back to life in a flicker of sharing.

The Land of Departures living room or commons room was cozy place that everyone came to relax at one point or another. The centerpiece was a large fireplace that roared in the winter, which burned copious amounts of wood. There was a L-shaped section made of tan colored leather, while the room itself was painted primarily Heron paint. There was a single set pocket sliding doors of a dark wood color, while two walls had four shelf bookshelves. There were full of different manner of books, ranging from education or recreational.

Pulling out the book, Master Eraqus walked over to the section and sat down on the chase of the section, staring at the book as he ran his left hand over the fat, thick book.

This was the second scrapbook the aged Master had made; the first was of himself, Xehanort, and their Master when he was alive. Master Eraqus could still remember the stinging news of Master Lukas's death as if it was yesterday. The man had been killed after defeating a mage whose power had created delusions of grandeur within his warped mind. He had sought to take over the universe, but Master Lukas had killed him before his reign of terror could begin. Xehanort hadn't taken the news well, locking himself within his room (which actually was Aqua's room now) for two weeks so he could grieve.

Master Lukas was a man who Eraqus looked up too; one thing he said still to this day stood out in the dark haired, scarred man's mind.

" _A Keyblade Master isn't measured by how many students they train, how powerful they became, or how well they lived: they're measured on how they died. Did they die fighting to the last breath for what they believed in? Or did they turn tail and run when it matter most? After all, people remember another's dying moments the most. It becomes burnt into their mind."_

A smile graced Master Eraqus's lips. Master Lukas had so much knowledge to give; Eraqus only wished he had been able to retain all of it so he could pass it onto his own students. He was certain Master Lukas would have found Aqua, Terra, and Ventus to be quite worthy students, if sometimes quite a handful.

' _Mind you, Xehanort and myself presented our own unique challenges to the Master Lukas. I am sure we both gave him his fair share of wrinkles,'_ Master Eraqus thought with a wiry grin before finally opening the heavily used book. Terra and Aqua had also given this scrapbook a hearty amount of usage, with Ventus now adding to how often this book was opened.

Flipping a few pages, Eraqus could see a crayon drawing of himself, holding the hand of a sloppily drawn Aqua. There were flowers, a yellow smiling sun, and birds watching the pair from a tree. On it were the words that he had chided her several times for despite how much his pained him to do so.

 _I love you, Papa._

The magic of the picture and love it still carried was all that matter to Master Eraqus. The old man could not even begin to forget the day this picture was given to him by Aqua. It was hard to believe she was ready to turn twenty years old. Time had just gone by.

The picture did have another purpose: it sparked the memory of that day.

 _Master Eraqus had only begun to train Aqua at Land of Departure. The girl had a immense amount of potential; he had been worried greatly that her mother and fellow Master Beatrix would be unwilling to let Aqua train under Master Eraqus. He had been delighted and honored when the battle mage had agreed to allow Master Eraqus to train Aqua._

" _I trust you, Eraqus. Take good care of my daughter."_

 _He had learned several things in the conversation about Aqua with Beatrix prior to their departure. Aqua's father had died of a cancer related complication, leaving Beatrix as the sole parent of the blue haired girl. She was a girl who didn't readily make friends because people were wary of magic users, despite their reliance on them for protection. Such attitudes towards magic users were part of the reason why Beatrix allowed Aqua to leave; in the hopes Aqua could find people to make friends with._

 _Aqua wasn't shy at all; she was actually quite friendly and excited to see someone other than her mother and the few other mages at her 'town.' Regardless, she cried when Master Eraqus had informed her of her mother's choice, but had also accepted it with understanding._

 _He had spent the first two weeks allowing Aqua to explore the castle and get comfortable with being around the wise man. The next couple of months were spent on general education and the like, as she still was a child. There was no reason to throw this young girl into a brutal training routine._

 _Classes for the day had concluded, but when he had dismissed the rather fidgety girl to do whatever she wished for the day, he found that Aqua had raced off, a grin on her face. Since then, she had been mysteriously quiet._

 _In Eraqus's experience, children that were quiet were up to something. Whatever that something was depended on what the child was trying to accomplish. Either they were doing something they were mandated not to do or they were trying to do something sweet, but usually resulted in a mess._

 _So when Master Eraqus had arrived in the kitchen to prepared dinner, he was sure the color drained from his face when he saw his student cooking. Today, she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a blue tank top, wholly unsuited for cooking and protecting her arms. Seeing the small form of Aqua working on what appeared to be fried rice and some sort of teriyaki chicken made Master Eraqus struggle to repress his smile when he asked, "Aqua, what are you doing?"_

 _The small girl jumped and immediately burnt herself in her jolting action, eyes going wide when the top of her left hand hit the pan with the boiling rice. There was a fraction of a second that allowed Eraqus's humor to whither into worry while Aqua grabbed her hand and began to cry._

 _Instantly, Eraqus was at Aqua's side, rushing to inspect her hand. Seeing that there would be lasting damage, the Master immediate used magic to heal her. Warm, green magic washed over the red, blistered skin, the Cura healing skin and reversing damage. As the light faded, Aqua's hand sported a scar mark that would never leave her._

 _Pulling her into a gentle hug and rubbing her back as she hiccupped and sobbed, Master Eraqus did his best to calm the girl down. She clutched him tightly as she cried, small hands grasping onto the fabric of the Master's coat._

 _Sadly, Master Eraqus had to do his least favorite thing: remind Aqua she wasn't supposed to cook without supervision. Sternly, he spoke to her, crouching down so he could look at her as he spoke. She looked at the floor as she hiccupped as the Master said, "Aqua, you must understand that I don't want you to be hurt. It is why I tell you that you cannot cook without myself being here to help you. Do you see now why?"_

 _It took a moment for Aqua to finally look up, shouldesr slumping weakly as she replied, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean…I just wanted t-to s-surprise you, M-M-Master."_

 _Eraqus pulled back so he could look at Aqua's puffy red eyes and tear stained face as her lower lip quivered. He smiled softly as his anger and disappointment in the girl deflated, despite the fact she had definitely disobeyed his rule to never use kitchen appliances without Master Eraqus being there. Her sweetness was both a strong quality and a weakness, if it wasn't tempered right in the future._

" _I greatly appreciate how thoughtful you are, Aqua, but promise me that you'll never do this again. You scared me half to death."_

 _Aqua's eyes widened in complete horror as she said loudly, "N-No! I don't want you to d-die!"_

 _This time, Eraqus chuckled heartily, making Aqua scrunch up her face in confusion. In order to ease Aqua's worry and cure her confusion, the man replied, "It is just a saying, Aqua. It means that you had me very worried. I love you as I would my own daughter. I cannot bear the thought of losing you, which could have happened if I had not arrived here and found you."_

 _Weakly, Aqua looked away and said, "I…I won't do it again." Aqua didn't want to make her Master so worried like that. It bothered her to see him upset in any manner and she didn't want to disappoint him._

" _Now, then, shall we finish this together?" Master Eraqus inquired of the blue haired girl, who smile brightly and replied, "Yeah!"_

 _Just before they could actually resume cooking, Aqua then said, "Oh, Master! I…um…I have something I wanna give you!"_

 _Aqua darted out of the kitchen to the dining room in a flash, her legs carrying her as fast as they could. Master Eraqus watched her run with a smile and chuckle as she disappeared. In wasn't a moment later that she returned with a piece of paper, holding it behind her back as she came skidding to a halt before Eraqus._

" _Ta-da!" Aqua said triumphantly as her arms whipped around to present a crayon drawing of her, Master Eraqus, and a messy background. He could see those haunting words 'I love you, Papa' so proudly displayed below the shapes of Aqua and Eraqus._

" _Do you like it?" Aqua inquired as Master Eraqus's left hand moved to take the picture from the little girl._

 _Master Eraqus decided against chiding her about calling him Papa. He would let it slide this time as he replied, "It's beautiful, Aqua. You drew it wonderfully!"_

Eraqus wished he could allow Aqua to call him 'papa,' but he knew it was not correct for her to do so. Beatrix would likely have had a fit if Aqua called Eraqus that in her letters, but deep down, he knew Aqua wanted to have someone to call her father. He couldn't envision how life would have been without a father figure. He was glad he could provide as both a Master and father figure, even if none of his students were his biological children.

There were so many memories in this book, but Master Eraqus couldn't relive them all in one sitting. He flipped several pages now until he happened upon a picture of Terra and he, back when Terra was maybe ten years old. It was dated October 18, the date Terra was born.

Unlike Aqua, Terra had been an orphan. Both parents were killed during his planet's greatest war, World War II. Hailing from Nazi Germany, Terra's father had died in combat in Russia. He had been a tank commander during the war and sacrificed himself to allow a field hospital in danger of being cut off to escape. His mother had died when the American Air Force had carpet bombed Terra's hometown. The woman had given her life so Terra could survive, since the bomb shelter could only take one more person.

So when Eraqus had found Terra in a bombed out building, alone, without clothing, and nearly freezing to death, Terra surely must have been shocked to find that other worlds _did_ exist. He readily left the smoldering remains of his country, which had been defeated at the end. It had been a dark place, will terrible events transpiring there. Terra had taught Aqua German as they grew up, something that had help allow them to bond.

So when Terra's birthday came, Master Eraqus took the boy to the town near the castle. It had been a boy's day; something Aqua gladly gave Terra that day.

" _Terra, do you know what today is?" Master Eraqus inquired of the dourer looking boy as he started blankly at the fireplace. The boy had been in a particularly foul mood today, which was completely understandable considering his mother had died on this very day, the day of his birth._

 _Terra eventually looked at his Master, an angry look passing over his face before he looked back at the fireplace. He finally spoke, toneless, replying, "October 18." It was amazing how well Terra could speak English and completely hid his German accent. One would never know unless they knew Terra's past._

 _Master Eraqus shook his head a bit, replying, "That's quite a correct answer, but there is more than just a date today." He was doing his best to ease into a painful topic, but he knew Terra's temper was explosive._

 _Terra shrugged some and replied, "Not really, Master."_

" _From my understanding, today is the day you were born. I have arranged for us to have a 'boy's day out,'" Master Eraqus informed Terra as he reassuringly placed his right hand on the boy's shoulder. He could feel of tense Terra was, like a spring ready to snap due to the pressure it was under. "And we know Aqua will not be happy if she has to endure another one of your snappy remarks about her hair today, so why don't we get out and enjoy the fall weather?"_

 _Terra gritted his teeth and grumbled, "Zur Holle mit dem Herbst Wetter." The brunette quickly tossed off the Master's hand with a flick of his shoulder, getting off the couch and standing, turning to look at Master Eraqus. After a moment, he eventually spoke in English, replying, "Will all due respect, Master, I don't feel up to celebrating."_

 _Eraqus frowned a bit, but knew he had to press forward. He was determined to change how this day was going, because Terra dwelling on the past and being swallowed by negative had to stop. Last year had been how day had gone thus far: Terra had a bad temper, snappy remarks directed at Aqua, and locking himself within his room. The very next day was spent with Terra apologizing for how he acted and distancing himself from the 18th._

" _Terra, how long are you going to let your mother's death darken this day? I do not profess to understand your pain, but I do know that taking it out on everyone else, including your close friend Aqua, is unbecoming of a Keyblade bearer."_

 _Terra snarled as his temper finally exploded violently, hands clenching into fists as he screamed, "Don't tell me how I oughta handle this day! Stop tryin' to make me feel better when there's no way you can!"_

 _Master Eraqus remained calm in the face of Terra's anger, instead shaking his head sadly and asking, "Have you tried to feel better? Do you know for certain that honoring your mother's death by celebrating the life she gave you won't make you feel better?"_

 _Terra opened his mouth to speak, but instead found himself unable to. His anger was still there, a wild expression on his face, but his rational mind—the one also wanting to feel better—was asking him if he had really tried such a thing. Sure, nothing could remove the pain he felt, but maybe he could dull it. Maybe, if he tried to have a birthday celebration, Terra could remember this day in a more positive light._

 _Terra's expression shifted, albeit slowly, to a pained one as he began to cry, moving to Master Eraqus as he hugged him, burying his face into the man's chest as Master Eraqus returned the hug. Between the crying, Terra told the world how he really felt._

" _I miss my mum! I miss her and dad! Why did they have to die in some stupid war?!"_

 _This time, Master Eraqus didn't have an answer for the boy, but he did his best to come up with one. Rubbing the boy's back reassuringly, he replied, "I do not know why some people die and others do not. But I do know you father was a brave man who saved many lives that day; your mother gave everything she had to save yours. You must never forget their sacrifices, but nor can you wallow in the misery forever."_

 _Terra asked in response, "Then what can I do to stop the hurt?"_

" _Nothing can remove the pain, Terra, but holding in the memories, never sharing them, will only make your pain worse," Master Eraqus was tearing up now, but did his best to not follow Terra's lead. Continuing, he said, "The best thing you can do is live. Live a good life, live a life you know your parents would be proud to see you live. And you can celebrate this day in their memory."_

Even now, Master Eraqus felt tears swimming in his eyes. That had had gone from being a dreary, horrible one for Terra to a day he remembered happily. The carnival in town had done wonders for the boy's spirits. He had eaten cotton candy until he was very nearly sick; he had ridden every ride he could. The brunette had enjoyed every moment of the day and when he had returned home, he apologized to Aqua for his snide comments to her. Aqua had accepted the apology, knowing why he had been acting the way he did.

Never again did Terra fully mope on that day. He lived and celebrated; he told stories of when he was growing about his parents. And he always thanked Master Eraqus for helping him over that hump in his life.

As Eraqus flipped few some more pages, eyes passing over images of Aqua and Terra sleeping together on the couch after being told a story or of the party they had thrown when Terra had finally casted a Fire spell, the man watched as the pictures aged him, Aqua, and Terra. Then came the pictures involving Ventus.

Ventus. The blonde was, at first, forced to relearn so much because of the accident he was involved in. But once he had recovered, far quicker than anyone had ever dared to predict, he was full of energy and life. The inquisitive and impish nature of Ventus had gotten him in comical trouble more than once, like when he had worn one of Aqua's bras on his head without realizing what it was or when he had dared to sneak into Terra's room, fill his hand with whip cream, and tickled his nose.

Terra had been furious with the blonde, but Master Eraqus had nearly died of an uncharacteristic round of laughter when he saw Terra's whip cream covered face, which was twisted in anger buried under all the cream. Thankfully, Aqua had saved poor Ventus's life when she used her index finger to get some cream off of Terra and taste it, causing him to freeze on the spot.

Figuring that nearly being murdered by Terra was a good enough punishment, Master Eraqus had only given Ventus a verbal warning to not pull such a stunt again.

Master Eraqus was not unaware, however, that Terra was developing feelings greater than friendship for Aqua. Should Terra ever move to act on these feelings, the man had come to the conclusion he would not stop Terra. After all, who was he to dare to stop love?

By now, the scarred man's gaze landed on a picture of Ventus holding Aqua and Terra's left and right hands respectfully as they stood before a beautiful sunset. It was in this moment that Eraqus couldn't ever forget. He saw how those three bonded, and this one moment seemed to capture the love those three had for one another.

 _It was Sunday, the day before training would resume. That day, at the dinner table, Ventus had asked if Aqua and Terra would like to go stargazing. That had agreed readily, but then Master Eraqus suggested that all of them go and watch the sunset, followed by seeing the stars slowly shown themselves under the canvas of the night sky._

" _That's a great idea, Master!" Ventus yelled before grabbing Aqua's hand, who in turned snatched Terra's before the energetic blonde could drag her away. Terra chuckled a bit as he stopped Ventus from dragging off the bluenette, remarking, "You're in a bit of a rush as usual, Ven."_

" _V-Ven, we gotta clean up first," Aqua said, motioning to the dishes from that night's meal. Cleaning up this mess would likely cost enough time to prevent them seeing the sunset in its entirety. Ventus looked at the table and his mood seemed to dampen a bit, but this time, Master Eraqus spoke up._

" _Aqua, I do believe these dishes will not sprout legs and walk off. I believe they can wait until later tonight," Master Eraqus said with a knowing grin as he looked towards Ventus. "You three go on ahead; I shall retrieve the camera, just in case the sunset provides us something special."_

" _Alright!" Ventus said before he took off in a hurry, Aqua and Terra looking at one another with amused expressions before taking off after the young boy._

 _By the time Master Eraqus had arrived to the upper training grounds, all three of his students had taken their usual seats at their preferred perch. The sun was on the final leg of its trip to the horizon and was painting the sky a beautiful shade of purple, orange, and violet. Even the clouds had gone from white to a rich purple color thanks to the setting sun._

 _Approaching his students, Master Eraqus had his camera hanging from his neck as he remarked, "It appears today's sunset is quite stunning and colorful."_

 _Ventus replied without looking back as he gazed at the sunset with wonderment, "It is! It's really cool!"_

" _It's just like you, Ven," Aqua said with smile as she looked over to Ventus. The blonde looked over with confusion at his friend, wondering what she meant about the sunset being just like him. Eventually, she said, "It's so colorful and impressive. It's a lot to take in, but worth observing."_

 _Terra couldn't have agreed more as he chorused, "Aqua's right. And I'm glad you came here and didn't stick with Master Xehanort." It was definitely nice to have a little brother of sorts to plan pranks with and teach._

 _Meanwhile, Master Eraqus took a seat on the bench behind his students as Ventus fidgeted nervously and looked at his hands, remarking, "G-Guys, I don't know if I am really that impressive. I'm pretty far behind you both and I feel like I hold you both back…"_

" _Don't think like that, Ventus," Master Eraqus interrupted before either the present brunette or bluenette could response to Ventus's worries. "You are only behind because of something far beyond your control. What you provide Aqua and Terra cannot be measured in talent or skill, but of something entirely different."_

" _The Master's right. It doesn't matter than you're behind us because of some stupid accident. We don't measure you by that; you give us friendship. You give us something worth pushing ourselves for," Terra commented as Ventus looked from Master Eraqus, then to Terra. Listening to them both, the blonde eventually smiled and replied, "Yeah! I guess you're all right."_

 _Aqua added in her own two cents now, looking back to the sun and saying, "Well, that's not completely fair. Ventus does give all of those things, but don't we do that for one another? We're all care so much about one another that, I liked to think, we always try our hardest with something is involving our loved ones…"_

 _Eventually, there was a silence before Aqua placed her hand over her chest and said, with absolute confidence, "Because all of us will always be one so long as we love one another. Nothing can destroy that."_

 _Ventus looked at Aqua, a spark of awe in his eyes, before asking, "Aqua, where do you come up with this stuff?"_

 _Terra smirked playfully, seeing a chance to ruffle Aqua's feathers. Leaning over to Ventus, he yell-whispered to him and said, "It's because she's a girl; that's where that skill comes from."_

 _Ventus blinked a few times and cocked his head like a puppy dog. "Really?" Terra did his best not to laugh at Ventus's expression and fact he was actually falling for this._

 _Aqua flushed and pouted while Master Eraqus chuckled at the humor of both what Terra said and Aqua's expression, remarking, "I believe having a heart and loving is something we all can do. Just because Aqua is more eloquent with her words does not lessen the affection you three have for one another."_

" _Not just the three of us, Master!" Ventus replied immediately as he moved to stand up before Master Eraqus, fiercely determined looking as he said, "We love you too, Master Eraqus!"_

" _Thank you for being our Master," Aqua said with a soft grin as she also looked at Master Eraqus, who seemed quite caught off-guard at how all the attention had suddenly turned to him._

 _Terra spoke next as he replied with a nod, "Thanks for everything you've done and will do for us, Master."_

 _Master Eraqus, for once, had not words for the situation present before him. Instead, he smiled at them all and nodded, blinking away the tears of joy that threaten to fall from his eyes. By now, Ventus had called out about getting a picture before the setting soon, allowing Master Eraqus to stew in the words his apprentices had showered him with._

 _As the trio posed, Master Eraqus lifted his camera and captured the image for all of time._

"Master?"

The young voice jolted the Master from his reverie. Looking around for a moment, the old man looked over to his right. Soon, his eyes settled down on the concerned form of Ventus, worry evident on the blonde's face.

"Oh, Ventus. I do apologize; where you trying to get my attention?" Master Eraqus asked as he closed the scrapbook slowly, allowing himself to regain his composure.

"Yes, Master…but you seemed pretty zoned out, ya know?" Ventus replied nervously, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. He really didn't mean to startle Master Eraqus like that, but Aqua was just about done cooking tonight's dinner of Chicken Cordon Blu casserole, which was a favorite of everyone. "I was coming to let you know Aqua's done makin' dinner!"

Master Eraqus smiled as he realized the smell of food was hanging in the air thickly, tickling his senses and making his stomach finally rumble. Standing up and putting the scrapbook gently back onto the shelf from whence it came, Master Eraqus eventually replied, "I believe I am smelling it now. So deep was I in memory that even the smell of Aqua's superb cooking failed to attract my attention!"

"Huh?" Ventus blurted in shock before he gestured with his hands wildly as he began to ramble, "How!? It's everyone's favorite food, Chicken Cordon Blu! It's so cheesy and yummy. It's like…the bomb, Master!"

"Ah, Ventus…when you're a old man like me, you'll realize that sometimes there are more important things than Chicken Cordon Blu night."

Ventus cocked his head slightly in confusion before asking, "Like what?"

Master Eraqus already knew this answer long before Ventus even asked it.

"Memories."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six: March Into Nightmares**_

' _I think fearless is having fears but jumping anyways.'—Taylor Swift_

* * *

It was finally _the_ day. All the years of toil, all the years of effort were going to accumulate in one test that would elect the fate of two: Aqua and Terra. Every waking moment of trail and error, every day of painful flops and resounding successes would be put to test today in the Mark of Master Exam.

It was early in the morning. There had been no training for four days now and all the students were resting up, even young Ventus, for the test later in the day. Excitement was thick in the air, but also was nervousness. No one knew what the Masters had planned for the test at hand. In fact, other than the fact three Keyblade Masters would be present today and the time the test would begin—1200 sharp—neither students had the foggiest clue what to expect.

As the students slept, the Masters met.

The sun had not begun its travels across the sky when Master Eraqus greeted the arrival of his peers.

Both were familiar faces to Eraqus, but only one would be immediately familiar to Aqua, Terra, and Ventus: Master Xehanort. The other Master was only familiar to his peers: Master Arthur.

Master Arthur, back in his day, had been a scrawny, sometimes cowardly, blonde who had been socially awkward and bore dreams of being a knight. His adventures had been many even his youth, ranging from tutorage under the Merlin the Wizard and being turned into a fish, but the day that _everything_ changed was the day of a tournament to name the rightful King of his world. Arthur had been the squire to his abusive adoptive brother, Sir Kay, and had forgotten his brother's sword back at the inn. Struggling to find a sword for Sir Kay, Arthur instead pulled out the legendary Excalibur Keyblade from the stone. This weapon had been deemed only able to be freed from its prison by the rightful King of England.

Arthur, in a single day, became a King only at the age of twelve. It had been exceptionally overwhelming at first, but young boy did his best to adapt and overcome.

Since that day, Arthur trained under Merlin in order to better wield the immensely powerful light-based Keyblade, which was said, along with Ultima Weapon, to be one of the few man-made Keyblades that could contest the X-blade. As time went by, Arthur went from being a scrawny boy to a powerfully build young man at the age of twenty-five to a wise and strong Keyblade Master after his own Exam. Now, at the age of forty-five, Master Arthur was a respected Keyblade Master who still had not taken on his own student.

Arthur looked the part of a warrior now. He was roughly six feet tall, sporting crisp, dirty blonde hair with dark black, well-groomed beard. He had rich brown eyes that sparkled with mirth when he told jokes or laughed. His frame easily arrived that of Terra's and he wore a standard steel and chain mesh armor suit, the steel plate polished to a sheen. On his back was a steel round shield, as the man believed in both the Keyblade and the shield as tools.

Most of all, he, while generally respectful to Xehanort, disdained how the elderly man used darkness so freely. However, he also knew without darkness, there would be no light. Without light, there would be no darkness. Each intertwined with one another, but fought one another. Such was the nature of each, but they were merely forces, not the faces of either good or evil.

Master Arthur arrived before Xehanort, appearing through a portal of shining light in the Main Hall of the castle at Land of Departure. Upon spotting Eraqus, a smile bloomed across the Keyblade bearer's face. Stepping forward to allow his portal to vanish, Arthur spread both arms merrily.

"Master Eraqus!" the man said with a cheery voice as he strolled up to hug the scarred man with a firm grip, laughing all the while. "It's so good to see you!"

Eraqus chuckled under the powerful hug Arthur gave him, returning it as well. If you had seen the blonde years ago, you would be extremely shocked at how he was now. Gone was the socially awkward boy, replaced with a friendly, kind, strong-willed leader who never shied away from tough choices.

Replying after a moment, Eraqus answered, "To you as well. I am most pleased you could make it to today's Mark of Mastery Exam." Pausing while breaking the exchange of hugs, Eraqus freely admitted, "For a moment, I feared only myself and Xehanort would be here to conduct today's examination."

Arthur feigned shocked as he clutched at his chest, replying, "Me, miss such an event as this? Hogwash! I'd be a fool to pass up seeing your students in action." Recovering from his playful actions, the man smiled as a more serious expression replaced the carefree one.

"I certainly look forward to seeing Terra and Aqua. No doubt you have produced fine Keyblade bearers," Master Arthur continued with a nod of his head, armor rattling as he gestured a bit with his left hand. Inspecting his fellow Master keenly, Arthur found something had changed with Eraqus. A frown washed away the smile that had been on Arthur's face.

"Might I ask…who gave you those scars?" Arthur asked pointedly, eyes narrow slightly as he had some suspicious on whom it might have been. "I know my mind can fail to keep a hold of memories, but I am certain that you did not have those the last time we met."

Master Eraqus knew now was not the time to answer that question, as Xehanort would be arriving shortly. Instead, he replied with a joking tone, "Oh, they came from raising my students!"

"That's a terrible lie. And a children's one at that."

This time, with a far more serious expression, Eraqus said to Arthur, "Arthur. These scars are an oath." Placing his right hand on the other man's shoulder and grasping it firmly, Eraqus continued with, "They are the physical representation that I will protect my students and those I love with everything I have, including my life."

Arthur seemed to understand the underlying message that Eraqus would explain at a later time, but Arthur also found the response from Eraqus to be sincere and honest. He knew one thing could be said from about the dark haired man: he was more than willing to give his life up for the sake of others. Arthur nodded knowingly and said, "That is an answer worthy of a good man."

Their conversation was cut short when a black and purple miasma swirled to life in the Main Hall. Eraqus stared at the Corridor of Darkness with a slight frown while Arthur sighed openly and remarked, "He really has a impeccable sense of timing."

Out stepped the one who had created this Corridor of Darkness, Master Xehanort. With his arms neatly folded behind his back, the rather expressionless bald man regarded Arthur with his golden eyes that Arthur did not flinch under.

Arthur and Xehanort had never seen eye to eye. The darkness wielding Master Xehanort did not seem to regard Arthur with the level of respect that he should while Arthur felt like Xehanort was always hiding something. Without any sort of leads that the yellow-eyed man had a hidden agenda, Master Arthur could not really act on his feelings.

"Xehanort. I see time has not been too kind to your image," Arthur jabbed with a chuckle after inspecting the leather-clothed man, turning to fully face the new arrival. He had no qualms about throwing thinly disguised insults into Xehanort's face, regardless of the fact that Xehanort was still quite strong should the Master take offense to the verbal volley.

Woe the day if Arthur and Xehanort ever came to blows.

"I can see that being a Master has not gifted you with a filter, Arthur. Must you be so unclothed?" Xehanort immediately shot back as he approached Master Eraqus and Arthur, seemingly unaffected by Arthur's verbal jabs.

"Gentlemen," came the stern tone originating from Eraqus as he moved preemptively to stop the arguing least it taint today's special day. He moved between the two Keyblade Masters as he continued to speak. "Today is not about petty squabbling, but about testing two of the Keyblade's Chosen. If you wish to fight, please do it on your own time, not here."

Xehanort could openly agree with this as he replied, "Indeed. I heartily look forward to seeing how Terra and Aqua perform. I am expecting great things from them both."

The talk of the students seemed to deflect the attention away from the tension between Xehanort and Arthur and onto the more appropriate topic of the Mark of Master Exam. Although the tension between Xehanort and Arthur would never go away easily, Arthur was more than willing to ignore his gut feeling in favor of today's examination.

"I can parrot Master Xehnaort's statement," Arthur replied with a grin as he patted Eraqus's back once again.

"Come then, we have to discuss what today's Mark shall hold for Aqua and Terra," Eraqus said as he motioned for Xehanort and Arthur to follow his lead to a more proper place for talks, his office. Turning to walk, Xehanort and Arthur followed the other Master, both of them giving one another fierce glares that reminded them both of one thing.

 _I don't trust you._

* * *

' _It's a quarter till twelve…'_ Terra thought as he stood in the Main Hall, eyeballing a pocket watch he preferred to carry with him. Wristwatches were uncomfortable to him and would likely get shattered from a Keyblade strike during training. While training never stopped in either Aqua or Terra's opinion, Terra was under high hopes that both he and his friend could become Masters today.

Maybe he could also master the courage to tell Aqua he had other feelings swirling in his chest, all for her.

Terra was waiting with Aqua and Ventus as the clock in his hand tick time away to the moment. Glancing to Aqua, Terra could see the bluenette was sitting on a small mat, legs crossed and eyes closed, mediating to calm herself. He knew that she was worried, but she did her best to stay in a cheerful mood, in the hopes it would rub off onto Ventus and, more importantly, Terra. It had been fairly successful, but even Aqua couldn't remove the underlying worry she and Terra had.

Ventus was fidgeting slightly, but oddly quiet and calm. Terra could see the blonde was nervous; Ventus gave him a shaky grin upon realizing Terra was looking at him.

Moving to the seemingly emotionless Terra—an assessment that would be highly incorrect—Ventus paused before him, rubbing the back of his head. After a moment of collecting his thoughts, with Terra more that happy to allow this, Ventus spoke.

"So…are you nervous? I know you're both gonna kill the exam today, but…" Ventus looked away, not really sure how to complete his train of thought in order to get it to its destination.

"Ven, I'd be lyin' if I didn't say I was nervous. I know Aqua is too," Terra replied with a bit of a smile, reaching out to ruffle Ventus's hair. This action seemed to placate Ventus's nervousness, the resulting smile showing more joy than worry. "But that's the thing. We can't let nervousness stop us from reaching out and grabbing for our dreams. I'd rather fail doing something I love than succeed at something I hate."

"Those are words to live by, Terra," came the familiar female voice, causing Terra to glance over at Aqua. She had opened both eyes and was in the motion of standing back up. Her armored boots clicked against stone ground as she made her way over to the two young males, coming to a stop in front of Terra to the left of Ventus. "But I honestly think you won't fail. I really believe in you."

Terra's face didn't show it, but he felt his stomach flip at those words. There was a tone in that voice that Terra couldn't quite put his thumb on, like she had wanted to say something else, but didn't. Staying calm and carrying on the conversation effortlessly, Terra smirked and replied, "I believe in you too, Aqua. I know you can do this. You're the toughest person I know."

Ventus chuckled a bit and remarked, "You're just sayin' that cuz Aqua kicks your butt a lot!" This caused everyone to chuckle in amusement—Terra had learned that Ventus was trying to break ice and that his pride was never really under fire from Ventus.

"Ven, you know Terra is just as tough as me. I know he's definitely beat me plenty of times," Aqua reminded the blonde, who nodded in agreement. Looking to her brunette friend, Aqua looked him over. She was quick to pray a blush wasn't appearing on her face as she looked down at those six pack abs—she was sure one could grind meat on those—before looking back to Terra's face, smiling a bit in order to beat back less _professional_ thoughts.

She had long been desensitized to Terra's muscular form until a few weeks ago. Something had shifted within her—or maybe it had been slowly shifting all along—and now she found she liked what she saw. A lot. In fact, she realized she might like Terra _a lot._ He treated her kindly and with respect; he came to her to confided in and he taught her a lot, sometimes without even realizing it. She had gotten so close to him and seen a lot and now she found herself daydreaming about Terra more often than she wanted to admit. She found herself wanting to take it farther than 'just friends.'

Of course, she didn't know Terra had similar feelings.

"Oh, the Master's are comin'!" Ventus alerted Terra and Aqua, making all three students move quickly to their assigned posts. Ventus darted like a bolt of lightning, in a chance to burn some energy, to a position on the far left of the thrones. Aqua and Terra stood at attention before the three thrones; waiting for the _three_ Keyblade Masters file in.

' _Master Eraqus was able to get more than Master Xehanort to attend,'_ Aqua thought as her face remained flat, ready to receive whatever instructions Master Eraqus, Master Xehanort, and the unknown Master had for her and Terra. Her focus was able to drive away, for now, thoughts of Terra.

' _That Master is new…I wonder who he is?'_ Terra thought in an attempt to clear his mind of Aqua and his nervousness, which was thankfully quite successful. The three Masters each took seats, with Master Eraqus sitting in the center seat, while Xehanort was on far right; the new Master the left.

Ventus had a feeling of being quite uncomfortable when Xehanort noticed the blonde after taking his seat, yellow eyes settling on his form before a smirk came to his face, since Ventus had never heard of or seen the elderly Master fully smile in glee. However, he quickly went to attention when Master Eraqus stood up and walked off of the platform the thrones were on.

Eraqus's eyes moved from left to right, looking at Terra and then Aqua. Both seemed calmed and ready for whatever came at them, but the wise Master knew each of his students were nervous and had done everything they had could to ease these feelings of trepidation. Eventually, Master Eraqus spoke to the two candidates.

"Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one but two of the Keyblade's Chosen stand here as candidates…" Eraqus said before pausing to let this settle in to everyone as he went through the proper speech. "But this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy; not a test of wills, but a test of heart. Both of you may prevail or neither."

Arthur listened into Eraqus's speech, something he had heard from Master Yen Sid when he still wielded a Keyblade. Xehanort, too, had heard a startling similar speech from Master Lukas when he and Eraqus had taken their own test. Both of them could agree in the validity of these words; they fit perfectly the manner of the Mark of Mastery.

Aqua felt a lump form in the back of her throat before she swallowed it away. She had a sudden chill pass over her body, like something sinister was oddly close by. Chalking it up as her detecting Xehanort or Terra's darkness, Aqua force herself to be at ease.

She didn't know a set of yellow eyes watched her and they didn't belong to Xehanort.

Terra noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Aqua had shuddered briefly. He hoped she wasn't letting her worry get to her, unaware that she was shivering because of something very different. He didn't move to comfort her, as much as he wished he could.

"But I am sure our guests, Master Xehanort and Master Arthur, did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark," Eraqus said as he looked over his shoulder at Arthur, who smiled brightly, and then at Xehanort, who gave a simple nod in response. His vision then returned to Aqua and Terra, stating versus questioning, "I trust you are ready."

"Yes, Master," came the dual response.

"Then let us begin. Master Xehanort, Master Arthur, please step forward to your respective charges," Master Eraqus stated, causing the Masters in question to stand up and start heading to Aqua and Terra. As Master Arthur stopped in front of Aqua and Master Xehanort came to a smooth halt before the much taller Terra, Ventus felt his heart start to pound for some reason. He couldn't hid his surprise as he thought, _'I wonder what they're gonna do?'_

"It's a pleasure to meet you at least, Aqua. Today, I will be handling the first part of this Exam for you," Arthur said in a jovial tone that seemed to confuse Aqua slightly. "No need to stand at attention, either! You're just gonna be too stiff after what's coming."

"Yes, Master Arthur…might I inquire about what is expected of me?" Aqua dared to ask of the heavily armored Master standing in front of her. He seemed to radiate light, much like her; but he was so _relaxed_ compared to even Master Eraqus.

Arthur smiled and replied, "I'd call it a trip into a ring of fire."

Aqua glanced over at Terra as Master Xehanort spoke to him, saying, "Terra, my boy, today's Exam will not be easy. You must steel yourself for what comes. Do not falter, even though your mind wants you to give in to fear."

Terra could see that Master Xehanort was quite serious in what he was saying. Whatever he and Aqua was about to go through had to be quite stressful. He hoped that Aqua could handle it; he prayed he too could handle this. With a reassuring and cur nod, Terra answered, "I understand, Master Xehanort."

After this, Arthur and Xehanort both moved a few paces away from their charges, each summoning their Keyblades. Arthur's Keyblade was in every way, shape, and form the opposite of Xehanort's. Excalibur was a long and powerful looking weapon, easily as long as Terra's Ends of the Earth. The shaft was primarily a royal blue color, with three sets of evenly spaced, decorative golden circles mounted on the ridge of the shaft. The edge of the shaft was a shiny silver color. At the base of the shaft, before the guard, was an opening shaped like a heart, with gold ringing it.

The guard was partly royal blue, with two silver colored crowns flanking either side of the top. The handle sported a light blue color and a golden crest at the end, which started a keychain of silver that ended in a golden colored key. The teeth of the Keyblade was made up of three silver crowns, with a single golden crown fused with another heart shaped piece at the tip, in a circular style.

In a flash of power, two separate portals appeared. Each of them had a white center, with silver and hues of blue flaking off of the white. Each of the swirling portals were roughly seven feet high; the fluid nature of the gateways meant their height was always changing to taller or shorter every few moments.

As Aqua and Terra looked apprehensively at their respective gateways, Master Eraqus said, "Aqua, Terra. Once you walk through those gateways, you will find you will be tested. You will face the unexpected within."

Aqua and Terra nodded at their Master's statement. Aqua found herself expelling a breath before she felt a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Looking back at Master Arthur, the man smile and said, "Only thing holding you back in your own self doubt."

"Yes, Master Arthur," Aqua said before moving over to the gateway, body shivering at the sheer pressure of magic it seemed to radiate. After her final pause, she walked in.

Terra watched as Aqua disappeared into the mass of pulsating energy before looking at his own portal. He heard Master Xehanort speak to him, saying, "Don't let your fear command you, my boy. Are you not willing to show the Mark?"

"I will show you the Mark, Master Xehanort," came the confident reply as Terra strode forth and into the gateway, disappearing from sight. After both students disappeared, the portals seemed to contort and twist before becoming more like screens, allowing all the Masters to stand and watch what was forthcoming to Aqua and Terra. It would prevent either of them from leaving, but would allow any of the Masters to come to the rescue should anything go wrong.

And in this test, the possible of something going wrong was real. Ventus was the evidence of it, after all.

* * *

Aqua had no clue were she was now.

When her vision had cleared up from the blinding white, she had found herself at what looked like to be a bedroom. There was a single twin bed, which she was sitting on, which had a grey comforter on it. There were two white painted doors of either side of her and the walls of the room were a grey coloration. There was a folding closet door on the opposite end of the room and there was a single four-drawer dresser drawer to the left of the closet.

The room was very poorly lit, too, making it harder for Aqua to see. And she couldn't shake the feeling that she was not _completely_ alone—but at the same time, on her own—in this cold place. She shivered, attempting to summon Stormfall on a gut feeling, a need for comfort.

Nothing happened.

There was no familiar flash of white light and falling flower petals. Stormfall did not heed her call, making her blue eyes widen in shock. She was quick to scramble off of the bed, standing up, hoping she could call on her magic at least. She attempted cast a simple Fire spell, which, much to her relief, came to life in her palm instead, her control allowing her to make it like an adhoc torch. The flames reflected off of her silver badge as she looked around the room.

Aqua suddenly felt a shiver cascade down her spine, coupled with a cracking, moaning noise that made her pivot immediately to the source of the noise. Aqua felt her heart drop down into her belly at what she was seeing, reflexively back away from the _thing_ before her.

A leering, white face, with pinpoint white eyes stared at her with an impossibly wide grin full of dagger-like teeth. The thing's face was seemingly frozen in a permanent grin. Black substance oozed from its eyes like tears, creating lines. Its body was tall, thin like a skeleton, and eight feet in height, skin pitch black and stretch over muscle and bone underneath. It was terrifying, as its head twitched wildly, a hissing, crackling noise escaping its mouth.

Aqua felt her breathing becoming erratic as she stared wide-eyed at the monster, which was emerging from the bed she had been on moments ago. Suddenly, it stopped twitching as waved at her, mockingly so, with its three-digit hand, each finger sporting a talon and easily being one foot long, asking in a dark, twisted voice, **"Hello. You are not afraid, are you?"**

Aqua didn't reply as the monster suddenly appeared in front of her, far too close for comfort, eye to eye with her as it hissed like a devil before saying, **"Then maybe we should change that."**

Aqua was quick to react now, her training swinging into action as she shoved her right hand into the monster's face, which didn't even recoil from the explosive blow. Aqua was quick to make some distance between her and her opponent, which regarded her with cold eyes as it began to twitch again, head spinning around and around on it shoulders.

"I'm not afraid of the dark or you!" Aqua yelled at the twitching figure, who seemed to stop moving upon hearing those words. Cocking its head slowly, the monster then replied, **"Everyone is afraid of something. And we have** _ **all**_ **night to figure out what you fear. So let's dig…"**

Aqua found she was pinned against the wall painfully, a three digit hand imbedding her face into the wall as the monster leaned in close to her left ear and hissed, sinisterly, **"…a little** _ **deeper."**_

Aqua squirmed mightily to throw off the monster, successfully doing so with a burst of raw magic that made the creature withdraw its hand. Still, it had been only the force of the blast that had done anything because when Aqua turned, the monster was complete unharmed, looking at its right digits before disappearing. This thing was a like a ghost or a phantom!

Aqua looked around quickly for her opponent, who seemed to have simply vanished into nothing. She waited for an attack from any direction, especially with the fact her enemy's powers and abilities were largely unknown. Other than it was physically strong and quick, Aqua was clueless.

Suddenly, a hand snapped around Aqua's face and over her mouth, making her hands snap up and pry at the offending limb as it attempted to choke off her air supply. Aqua managed to escape once again, gasping for breath as the monster said, **"Some people fear infections. A cut or scrap that becomes so** _ **much**_ **more."**

Aqua turned to the monster, whose back was now at her, a reddish aura around it. However, the creature's face was still staring at her before its body rotating around, making Aqua's stomach churn as it continued talking. **"A cut grows bigger and the pain correspondingly grows. It begins leaking fluid and blood and must be separated to prevent from spreading and causing death."**

By now, Aqua saw flickers of images appearing behind the thin creature, of people's arms being cut off on a gory battlefield. Aqua stood strong before the creature as she hissed, "You're disgusting!"

" **So people fear death, afraid of their life slowly slipping from them, regardless that death is the end of life, a natural thing,"** the creature continued, ignoring her insult as it she had never said it. The monster's eyes rolled up into the back of its head over and over again as it suddenly surged towards Aqua, making her snarl and unleash a Firaga at the thing.

Much to her shock, the thin beast rushed through the spell effortlessly. The ball of flames exploded violently on its body, but it continued forward through the embers and smoke, looking like it was going to tackle her. Aqua prepared to leap away from her aggressor before its image instead flicked and then disappeared completely. Aqua's stood perplexed at what in the world was happening here.

It was becoming increasingly clear this monster was toying with her, mocking her apparent lack of fear, and she hadn't damaged it once.

This time, Aqua heard the monster's voice above her, making her look up. Nothing was there, however.

" **Some people fear small spaces, confined and left to beg for help, scratching or clawing at the walls that hold you. And then some people fear helplessness…some people fear being rejected, being left all alone."**

This time, Aqua felt a pang of hurt strike her chest from the monster's words, making her recoil. Aqua frantically looked for the location of her attacker, where it was, but found nothing. Something constricted her chest as she replied, "I'll never be alone. My friends will always be there!"

" **Your friends are not here; they will not come to save you. You are alone here. You are the mage that no one wants anymore."**

Aqua felt tears in her eyes as she did her best to stand her ground, despite how weak her knees felt, replying, "That's not true at all!"

Then the environment around her changed, the room melting around her and leaving her standing in the Main Hall. How was she back at Land of Departure? Everything felt so real, like she had escaped the grasp of that terrible nightmare world. Blinking away her tears, Aqua calmed her breathing the best she could. Looking around at the sudden scenery change, Aqua spotted Terra and Ventus not too far from her, chatting lively about something.

Smiling warmly at her friends, Aqua moved over to them briskly, heart still racing from her encounter with the skeleton-like figure. Maybe they could tell her how much time had passed. Coming to a halt near them, Aqua opened her mouth as Ventus and Terra looked at her. Before the bluenette could speak, Terra preempted her speaking with something that caught her wholly off-guard.

"What the Hell are you doing here without your collar on, mage?"

Aqua felt like a knife had been shoved into her chest, the stinging question full of disdain reminding her of the things said to her on her homeworld whenever she dared to try and make friends. The pain was further multiplied by the fact Terra had said this to her. The look on Terra's face further added to how she felt.

"T…Terra? We're friends. Why would you even ask me something so horrible?" Aqua asked weakly as she tried not to break into tears. She wanted to reach out to him and slap him for how horrible he was being, but something stopped her.

Fear.

Terra snorted dismissively before shoving her away hard enough that she fell onto her backside roughly. No real physical damage was done to her. The only damage was mental; that Terra had actually just shoved her like that. She felt her lower lip quivering pitifully as Terra remarked, "We're not friends, so just go back to your little village. I don't want to catch any diseases you might have."

And then Ventus and him laughed at her while walking away, making cover her mouth with both hands as she bit back a sob. She felt like her world had been torn asunder from her, making her feel so completely alone. Terra had just rejected her like she was nothing; just trash.

Just like back at her homeworld.

" **No matter what you do, you cannot escape."**

Aqua blinked and found herself back in the room, shivering as she hunched over, hot tears flowing from her eyes and down over her hands. How could this be happening? This thing was tormenting her with all this pain and fear; she just wasn't prepared for something like this.

The horrible monster materialized before her, neck bent at an unbelievable angle to allow its head to hang upside down, white eyes looking at her with dark malice now. It was like this thing was feasting off her fears, twitching once again as it corrected its head to a more normal position. It towered over her as it got closer.

Suddenly, something clicked in Aqua's mind, within the small piece of her rational mind that was still functioning.

Maybe this thing was getting stronger because she was trying to act fearless. Maybe this monster was trying to make her admit she had fears to feed on them, but rather that hide from them, she needed admit she had them and then face them.

"You're right…I do fear," Aqua said as she cried, but the tears no longer were flowing so heavily now. The bluenette stared at the floor as she reminded herself she was terrified of being alone and friendless. She had always been afraid, but ever since Aqua had come to Land of Departure, that fear had seem to fade away.

In reality, it had only moved to her subconscious.

She shifted her attention to the now frozen monster whose hand was only inches from her face; Aqua stared calmly as she spoke. "I'm afraid of being alone and friendless. What that Terra said to me hurt because for a long time, it was true. But now…it's _not."_

Standing up, Aqua confidently called on Stormfall, which appeared in a brilliant burst of light that made the monster recoil suddenly, shielding its eyes from the blinding light that suddenly filled the room. "I am afraid, but I have my friends. They care about me and now I fear losing them and returning to that time of being alone. But no matter what, the three of us will always be one, even when we're miles apart, even if we argue with one another!"

Looking back to the now armed Aqua, the creature seemed to be amused more than afraid of Aqua, a glint in its eyes as it spoke.

" **Very good. Then you know you are afraid; everyone fears something. Do not forget this; the moment you do, the shadows will consume you."**

As soon as the creature spoke, there was a blinding light seemed to consume Aqua and the world around her.

* * *

Whatever Terra had been expecting during this test, this was _definitely_ not it. He had been expecting maybe seeing monsters that he had to fight or being taken to an obstacle course of some sort; Hell, he had even been expecting to face a doppelganger. But this place was very far from any of those expectations.

The war-torn scene before him, seemingly frozen in time, was definitely something that made his stomach churn. Shell explosions that tossed dirt high into the sky, along with any shredded remains of any soldier unlucky enough to be caught in it, were frozen mid-blast. Plumes of smoke dotted the distance around Terra while fighter-bombers flew overhead. Tanks of Russian origin were both burning wrecks and rushing over an open field; German Panzers did their best to stymie the rush of their armored counterparts. German soldiers fought tooth and nail against Communist soldiers. Knives plunged into flesh on either side, while bullets cut down those in the distance.

Terra could see those bullets clearly hanging in the air or slicing into the soft flesh of soldiers, who were dropping their weapons as blood sprayed from their wounds. The dead and dying lied around the living that fought for their country, for ideals, for their lives and the lives of others.

Terra knew, without a doubt, just from the Iron Cross, he was on a battlefield somewhere on the Eastern Front. He was back in the time of the war that had killed everyone he knew.

World War II.

' _Why? Why the fuck did that portal take me here?'_ Terra thought uneasily as he made his way in the silent area, around shell holes and trenches, eyes looking around at the motionless scene that threatened to engulf him. He was quickly wishing that he could get out of here, but with no obvious routes out, Terra had to stumble around the carnage in hopes of finding an answer.

Of course, when Terra rounded a thick tree being splintered by a string of 7.62x25 caliber rounds, he quickly regretted exploring this area. Standing next to a Panzer IV Ausf J, the 75 mm main gun barking out in anger at an enemy tank, was his father. The tall man was wearing his black Panzer wraps, which was unusual for combat, Terra imagined. Short, military style brown hair and light blue eyes inspected Terra as he dared to approach his father.

Terra's father was named Otto; he was known as being a man who pulled no punches, much like his son. He currently had a five o'clock shadow from being, most likely, in combat for a long period of time. The man cocked his head and spoke to him in German, saying, "Hello, son. It has been some time since I saw you last…you've matured into a fine young man, although you could use a haircut."

That was really the first thing his dad said to him after all these years? He needed a damn haircut!? Terra thought about all the time he and his mom spent alone after learning Otto had been killed in combat. Then came the day his mother had died during the air raid, all to allow her son to live. Everything had gone so horribly wrong after his dad had died…

It had been his father's fault the darkness had been created within his heart. If he hadn't of died, then maybe none of the things that had come after his death wouldn't have happened. Maybe Terra would have a dad still instead of nearly freezing to death in some bombed out husk.

Darkness flickered around Terra's right arm, making him looked down at it and quickly flailed his arm back and forth in order to get the darkness to fade away. Otto frowned at Terra's actions, but before he could speak, Terra snarled angrily in German, "You did this! You died and left mom and me on our own! It's cuz of you I have the darkness within me!"

As the world around them began to fade away into nothing more than a black void, leaving Terra and Otto in darkness that caused Terra to look around in worry and wear. Somehow, he could still see Otto clearly, the man shaking his head sadly. Speaking, he said harshly, "Son, I am sorry that I left you and your mother to fend for yourselves, but you are a coward for blaming me for your own inability to admit your darkness has always been there."

"I am not a damn coward! You…" Terra began before the man's form changed, revealing a gapping hole in his chest from what appeared to be a tank shell. Terra's eyes widened with horror as he stepped back, the void reaching out at Terra with purple and blue hands, like snakes that threatened to poison him with their touch.

"I am not a coward, son. I died for what I believed in. I died to save others. Look at you! You coward at the very mention of the darkness within you and you can't even admit you're afraid of yourself," Otto spat harshly at his son as he strode forward with anger-fueled steps. Upon reaching Terra, he grabbed the crisscrossed suspender like straps that Terra wore and didn't let go.

Staring right into Terra's wild eyes, Otto growled, "Are you afraid that your darkness will consume you or your friends? It isn't that you should fear; you should fear the fact you run from it. Your inaction of facing the darkness within will cause it to consume you."

"The darkness will consume them if I use it! I hurt Aqua with the darkness! I hurt her because…" Terra protested, causing Otto to shake his head once again. Terra was perplexed by his father's actions, as he seemed to regard him sadly now. The burning anger that had been in Otto's eyes faded into sorrow at this point.

"It only hurt her because you let it. You lashed out on her because you allowed petty feelings to fuel you. It wasn't the darkness that hurt her; it was you."

Terra's eyes went wide with horror as darkness began to surround his dad like an aura. Although Terra wanted to deny it with every fiber of his being, he knew what his dad was telling him was true. His mind flashed back to the day, nearly four eyes ago, seeing Aqua one the ground as darkness rolled off her battle-damaged form.

"And worse part, Terra, is you haven't learned as much as you should have from that day."

Terra watched as his dad's form turn into a mass of squirming darkness, which quickly tried to consume him into the void. He screamed in horror and shock as he struggled to escape the darkness that now surrounded him and tried to take everything from him.

As the sea of darkness began to swallow him up, Terra coughed and choked on the ice-cold inky fluid that was all-around him now. The brunette tried to summon up Ends of the Earth in order to use his Keyblade Glider in order to get out of the mess he found himself in, but he couldn't seem to summon the power needed to call forth Ends of the Earth.

Soon, the darkness had pulled him under. Terra found himself starting to slip into an unconscious state, his vision fading from murky to black to clear and then murky again in short order. It seemed he was going to die here in this damn darkness, alone, because he was so weak.

Suddenly, Aqua flashed in his mind. That face he cared about so much was smiling so brightly, like she couldn't be any happier than seeing him.

If he died here, then he'd not be able to see her and be with her.

Terra's eyes snapped opened. He might have hurt her, but he wasn't going to let the darkness take him! He might not be able to manage his powers of darkness, but he could certainly force the darkness away for Aqua! Terra suddenly snarled as Ends of the Earth came to him, thinking, _'I don't care if I am afraid of the darkness! I am afraid, but I won't let my fear stop me from seein' Aqua or my friends again!"_

Terra's Keyblade, rather than turn into a glide, went over his shoulder and morphed rapidly into a massive cannon. The young man let out a scream of fury as he pointed his newfound weapon into the darkness around him. A ball of light charged at the end of the weapon, a crescendo of whining signaling it was ready to fire.

Terra let forth the massive sphere of light.

The resulting detonation was so mighty that the light blinded Terra as it chased away the darkness. Terra closed his eyes as the light surrounded him with its comforting embrace.

* * *

Back with the three Masters and Ventus, the portals both shimmered at the same time.

Xehanort and Arthur both moved away from the shimmering portals, Arthur smiling a bit as he knew, along with Eraqus and Xehanort, what the sudden shimmering meant.

Everyone watched with satisfaction—awe in Ventus's case—as the gateways swirled and then bloomed into light, which drifted up towards the roof as white particles lazily. As the light of the portals died down, they revealed Aqua and Terra, both in good shape. Both of them had successfully completed the task of facing their fears. Between the fear of being rejected and the fear of one's inner darkness, the two prospects had successfully forged their ways through.

Arthur was the first to speak, remarking, "Well, that was part one down. Both of you did quite well!" He did not allude to what either student had been through within the realm of fear; that was not part of the protocol.

Arthur and Xehanort made their way back to their respective seats. Waiting for them to take their seats, Eraqus began to speak, explaining, "One must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances. Facing one's fears, whatever they may be, is one such circumstance. It was an excellent test." He paused before looking to Aqua and then Terra. "This brings us to your next trail."

' _Shoulda known this wasn't over yet,'_ Ventus thought as he watched Master Eraqus gesture for Aqua and Terra to take positions across from one another. He had a sudden bad feeling pass over him, but he quickly brushed it off. Nothing bad was going to happen, right?

Master Eraqus quickly regained Ventus's attention as he watched his friends continue on with their Mark of Mastery. Aqua and Terra took positions in the center of the Main Hall, ready, summoning their respective weapons as their Master said, "Now, Terra and Aqua, you will face one another in combat."

Aqua slipped into her combat stance had she had done so many times before this day, but today was different. She could see Terra was keenly focused, more so than he had ever been before. He seemed to be a tad ragged looking; whatever he had been through had to rattled him, just like it had rattled her.

"Remember, there are no winners—only truths. For when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed."

There was a second of silence that dragged on forever. Aqua's expression hardened as she slipped into her mentality of battle. Terra was no longer Terra within her mind. Terra was an opponent, one she had to face to her fullest. Already, she was planning several moves ahead, based on the various reactions and things she had learned about Terra during previous bouts.

Terra was also in a different mentality, but his was on how he could quickly defeat Aqua. He knew she planned for the long term, but more than once, Terra had bested her and her academic-like mindset to battle. It had served him well, so there was no reason to get a different horse now.

"Begin!" came the order.

Aqua quickly charged forward at Terra, with the much bulkier man rushing forward at her. Aqua, instead of firing an attack at Terra, flicked her left hand out and hit the stone ground with a Blizzara. Bluish ice coated the ground, causing Terra's eyes to widened before he came to a screaming halt, least he slide over the now ice covered ground like a fool.

During that moment, Aqua had teleported behind Terra, but the brunette was aware of her sudden appearance behind him, causing him to spin around hard. There was an echoing clang as Aqua's Stormfall crashed powerfully into Ends of the Earth. Terra pushed Aqua back, causing her to move back gracefully.

Soon, the sounds of Keyblades smashing into one another filled the air as Terra and Aqua worked to wear one another down. Aqua's attacks, while strong, were geared towards waiting for an opening in Terra's defenses between the attacks they unleashed upon one another.

Soon, a possible opening began to develop. Aqua flicked a billowing Firaga at Terra, the point blank range of the magic spell making the brunette grunt as his barely blocked it, throwing the crackling ball of flames into the air. In the following moment, Terra unleashed a powerful upward strike that Aqua flipped away from, landing some distance away from Terra before he rushed at her. Aqua darted away quickly, watching Terra's attacks with critical eyes.

Terra was off center and his attacks were a bit sloppy; difficult to perceive without a trained eye, but Aqua did have a trained eye. He was putting so much power behind his attacks in an attempt to beat her quickly; her arm could feel the strain of the blows from deflecting Terra's strikes, but Aqua had better endurance after training with Terra so much.

She took her chances and lashed out with a series of dizzying strikes that began to drive Terra back as a result, Keyblade cutting through the air where Terra's midsection had been, followed by a quick upward swing that Terra overestimate the danger of, leaping back too much as a result. Crouching low, Aqua burst forth at Terra with a far more lethal swing that could likely knock Terra out cold.

Realizing the error he had made, Terra's eyes widened as he quickly moved to try and get the Hell away from Aqua's incoming strike. The teeth of Stormfall came less than an inch from the brunette's face, wind washing over his face as he barely got away.

' _If that blow had hit my chin, she would have knocked me out!'_ Terra thought before panic seized him as he realized Aqua had already created a Firaga in her left hand. He had been so focused on the incoming attack that he had failed to see the orange ball swirl to life in Aqua's hand. He had no time to defend himself, as he was in mid-leap and wholly unprepared to deal with the flaming orb that was now racing at him.

Terra cried out in pain as the Firaga pounded into his exposed chest and flung him some distance away. He landed on his feet, smoke rolling off of his frame thickly as he coughed painfully. The sheer power of the attack warned Terra his friend was not holding back. This wasn't training and Aqua was taking this so much more seriously than normal.

Soon, Terra found she was on him, not giving him any chance to recover as she lashed out with Keyblade strikes, teleporting around him in quick succession to his back, then his left, then his right, all in an attempt to wear him down. The brunette doggedly defended himself, but some attacks made their way through, striking his stomach, chest, his back, and his sides. Magic added onto the wear Terra was starting to feeling, with mostly Firaga's being Aqua's weapon of choice. A few burn marks marred Terra's body, while Aqua seemed to be mostly undamaged, aside from the blow to her stomach and a deep cut on her left check. He had managed to clip her thighs a few times as well, but nothing serious.

None of Aqua's blows she had sustained warranted a Cure spell even.

Terra could feel his anger and panic mounting as Aqua picked away at him; he was weakening quicker than he expected, making him sloppier by the moment. She seemed so emotionless and ruthless even.

Terra managed to head-butted Aqua when she appeared in front of him, unable to bring his Keyblade to bear on Aqua's materializing form. Aqua cried out from the ringing blow that crunched her nose, making her stagger back a bit. Blood was running from her nose, while Terra tried to gather his breath, aiming to cast a Cura spell in order to heal himself. Green colored energy pooled around his left hand; he was moments away from casting.

He had underestimated the range of a Thundaga spell, yellow bolts of energy frying Terra's frame with painful spasms, sparks of yellow arching off and over his body as he worked to stay on his feet. He felt his Cura spell die at the tips of his fingers, staggering back from Aqua as she roared and charged at him once again.

At this rate, her charge would crush him and he would be totally humiliated in a defeat that he didn't want to experience. Master Eraqus said there would be no winners or losers from this fight, but Terra's pride was aflame at the idea of losing to Aqua here, in front of three Keyblade Masters!

Terra felt something shift in his chest. He felt a surge of power, of confidence. He stood his ground and prepared to attack when he noticed black and purple out of the corner of his eyes. Glancing down, Terra felt horror fill his being as his darkness flared out all over his free hand.

Quickly, he beat it back with a wave of his left arm, but it was much too late. Aqua and all three Masters had seen the darkness ever so briefly manifest from within Terra.

As Aqua and Terra continued to battle, with Aqua holding a edge over Terra a good hunk of the fight despite the sudden boost in power the brunette had received, Master Xehanort smirked at what he had seen.

* * *

The battle between Terra and Aqua had lasted a good twenty minutes longer before Master Eraqus called for a stop to their fight. After this was achieved, Terra and Aqua had been told to go and clean up while the Masters deliberated. Ventus was told he was to stay outside of the Main Hall, along with Aqua and Terra once they returned within the hour.

Aqua and Terra would be receiving the results of their Marks one at a time. The Masters had called in Aqua first.

After bidding her farewells to her friends, the bluenette made her way to the thrones all the Masters sat at. They watched her with critical eyes until she came to a halt before them, at attention. For a moment, Aqua wondered how Terra was doing after their fight, but he did seem in good spirits despite the flare up he had had during the fight. Shaking that from her mind, Aqua spoke. "I am reporting as ordered, Masters."

She had done everything she could to prove she had shown the Mark. It was no longer in her hands at this point. Her fate was up to Master Eraqus, Master Xehanort, and Master Arthur.

"At ease, Aqua," her Master said with a slight wave of his hand, making her quickly go at ease as requested. She listened as her Master continued to speak. "We have deliberated your performance during the Mark of Mastery Exam. We will each reveal our choices, as well as any remarks we might have, starting with Master Xehanort."

Aqua bit the inside of her mouth as she waited for Master Xehanort to speak to her. As she waited, another chill rushed over her body, but she immediately ignored it, showing no visual cues that something was amiss.

Finally, the elderly man spoke, not rising from his seat. Looking to her with those unnerving yellow eyes, Master Xehanort said, "Aqua, your performance was commendable as expected. As such, you have shown the Mark, through a combination of your ability to face your fear and how well you commanded the battle with Terra."

Aqua felt her heart flutter some before Master Arthur stood, rising with a slight clank of armor and with a pleased grin on his face. Looking directly at her, Arthur said, "You have shown the Mark in my eyes, Aqua. It would greatly please me to induce you into the ranks of Keyblade Masters."

Aqua's heart was starting to race now, but she never lost her composure before the three wise men. It was now Master Eraqus's turn to speak as Arthur sat down, with the scarred Master coming to his feet now.

With his words, Aqua knew her dream had finally come true.

"It takes much strength of character and heart to carry the title of Master. You are held to a much higher standard than others. People will look to Masters to guide them in their weakest times," Master Eraqus explained with a smile before he concluded with, "Aqua, you have shown the Mark. You have all the traits, along with your training, needed to bare the mantle of Keyblade Master."

Aqua expelled a shaky breath. It was difficult to see now as she felt tears start to blur her vision, but these were tears of joy. She was so overjoyed at this point; she had _finally_ done it. All the years of effort; all the years of self-doubt washed away in one shining moment. She nodded shakily as she responded, "Th-Thank you, Master Eraqus, Master Arthur, and Master Xehanort!"

"Ha, you don't need to stay so professional, Aqua! It's alright to cry in joy, but I'd say your friends are quite eager to hear the results from your mouth," Arthur remarked to the bluenette, who quickly followed his advice. She had to tell Ventus and Terra. Most of all, once Terra became a Master as well, she and Terra could say they finally accomplished their dreams! Not waiting for a dismissal from the Masters, Aqua rushed down the Main Hall, heading to the door that led into the hallway Terra and Ventus were waiting.

As Aqua rushed off, Master Eraqus felt a smile come to his face as he said to no one in particular, "I do hope she remembers to send in Terra fairly soon…"

Terra and Ventus nearly came out of their skins when Aqua uncharacteristically burst through the double doors that led into the hallway leading to everyone's rooms. The fact she was crying profusely caused Terra to asked right away, "Aqua, are you alright?"

Ventus was rather worried as well, even as Aqua flung herself into Terra, hugging him tightly. He moved to her side as he inquired of the sobbing bluenette, "Aqua, why are you crying? Is everything alright?"

"T-T-Terra! I'm n-not glass. D-do you r-remember? I…" Aqua managed to asked in a rushed tone, between her sobbing and burying her face into her friend's chest. He smelled so good after getting cleaned up, but right now she had her thoughts racing a million miles an hour. She began to work on collecting herself, hands grasping onto Terra tightly.

Meanwhile, Ventus was clearly a bit confused on what in the world Aqua was talking about. What had she meant by not being glass? Maybe this was in reference to a conversation she had had with Terra before his arrival. Looking to Terra, he began to inquire to the brunette about what she was saying, asking, "Terra, what is she talkin' about?"

Terra looked over at Ventus and shocked the blonde at the sight of Terra crying. The brunette looked back to Aqua as he rubbed her back gently and managed to blink away his tears. Smiling as he let Aqua nestle into him, Terra said to Ventus, "She meant she did it. She's a Master now!"

Ventus blinked before he felt a smile stretch across his face and he whooped for joy. Aqua had become a Keyblade Master! The blonde jumped up and down, chanting, "Hurrah for Aqua! She did it! Hurrah, hurrah!" He had never been so excited for his female friend in his entire life!

They celebrated Aqua's success for a bit before the bluenette slowly pulled away, coming to realize that she was holding onto Terra pretty tightly. Blushing slightly, a fact that was missed by both young men, Aqua pulled away and said, softly, "The Masters are waiting on you, Terra. I know you'll do this."

Terra noticed she seemed a bit shy around him after basically throwing herself into him with all her strength, nearly taking him off of his feet. It was fortunate he was so strong and able to handle great force with relative ease. Even though he wanted to question her shyness, Terra knew the Masters were waiting. With a confident grin, Terra said, "Don't worry, Aqua. I am sure I did great, just like you. I'll be back in no time!"

Nodding, Aqua said, "Yeah. I'll see you when you get back, okay?"

Ventus chimed in with, "You're gonna clean up in there, Terra!" He was quite confident his brother figure had succeeded just like Aqua. It was always that way, after all. He had never seen Terra or Aqua fail anything, despite claims they had failed before.

Confidently, Terra pushed the double doors open and walked into the Main Hall. On went his game face; he was ready to receive the judgment of the Masters who had watched his examination so keenly. He walked slowly, but with purpose, to the seated Masters. Coming to a crisp halt before the three gentlemen, Terra came to attention and said, "I am reporting as ordered, Masters."

"Terra, at ease," Master Eraqus said as he allowed Terra to stand at ease. Shifting his stance into a more relaxed position, Terra listened to Master Eraqus speak slowly and deliberately. Like with Aqua before him, Terra listened to the same words from his Master. "We have deliberated your performance during the Mark of Mastery Exam. We will each reveal our choices, as well as any remarks we might have, starting with Master Xehanort."

' _Alright then, let's hear what they have to say to me,'_ Terra though, expecting good news from each of the Masters. Terra was anxious to hear the results of his Mark, but there was an irritable silence instead. As Master Xehanort seemed to remain quiet for a moment, he wondered what was taking the elderly man so long.

Master Xehanort eventually lifted his head, looking at Terra with a pained expression, something Terra wasn't expecting, nor was he liking. The yellow-eyed man sighed heavily before closing his eyes, like he was in some great mental turmoil. Finally, he spoke, saying words that seared painful into Terra's mind.

"My boy, as much as it pains me to say this, you have failed to show the Mark. You could not properly handle a superior foe in battle and failed to control your own powers. You did manage to face your fears, but you did not learn from that critical exercise."

Terra felt numb now. He felt something dreadful in his chest as he blinked a few times, a shocked expression clearly coming to his face. They had _seen_ the darkness around his hand; that much Terra was sure of. However, hope remained in Master Arthur and Master Eraqus, that somehow he had done something somewhere along the lines to turn this around.

Terra was immediately disappointed when he heard Master Arthur speak next, rising to his feet.

"Terra, you definitely failed to show the Mark. While your efforts at staying your fear of darkness was impressive, you did not handle the power within very well," Master Arthur said with a stern tone and equally disappointed expression. "Not only did you come in with the wrong mindset against your opponent who was not pulling any punches, you tapped into a power that you had little experience with utilizing. You put yourself and your friend in danger by using power untamed."

Terra felt his teeth grit together as his shock was now being replaced with anger and hurt. Why was he always falling behind Aqua, the _superior_ fighter, as Master Xehanort had said it. And the fact Master Arthur had called him out for not having the right mindset hurt as well. It was basically calling him underprepared.

Now Master Eraqus spoke as well and he was the only good news in this entire mess. Looking to Master Arthur with a disappointed look, feeling Master Arthur had gone a bit too far with his words, Master Eraqus looked back to the clearly angry form of Terra. While Master Eraqus could no longer change the outcome of this Mark, he knew he could give Terra some glimmering sliver of hope.

"Terra, I believed you showed the Mark because you did push back the darkness within you. You did this knowing that it was a power you couldn't manage properly. Sadly, the majority rules and my opinion of showing the Mark is outweighed by two who state otherwise," Master Eraqus said with a sad tone that he did not hide at all. He felt devastated internally that Terra had failed. He, like Aqua and Ventus, had been so certain Terra would pass today. To see him fail made Eraqus's insides twist painfully.

Terra was unable to vocalize what he was feeling as a cluster of many emotions clouded his mind. He felt completely devastated he had failed his Mark. All his years of training felt like a waste of effort. Pain of failure filled his heart as he said, "I see. I understand, Masters…but I need some time alone…"

And with that, he quickly departed to the outside, to get some fresh, clean air and to get away from all the source of his failure, the three Keyblade Masters. Master Eraqus watched as Terra departure, a stormy expression clouding his features. He knew Terra was extremely upset, but for now, it was best to leave Terra be.

* * *

Any euphoria either Aqua or Ventus was feeling was long gone now. The newly minted Master and her friend knew it couldn't have taken a half an hour to tell Terra if he had succeeded or not.

The bluenette could not shake this undeniable feeling of dread that had steadily building in her stomach. The flicker of familiar darkness she felt as well, growing larger with each passing moment even as it got farther and farther away warned her that the unimaginable might have happened. She had tried to deny it repeatedly, but now it was obvious denial was no longer avoiding the truth.

Looking to Ventus, she could tell he was feeling off as well. He had a very distant look to him, eyes downcast to the floor as had his shoulders slumped and arms hanging limply to his side.

After a few more tense moments of silence, Ventus finally said, sadly, "…Aqua? Terra didn't…make it, did he?"

Aqua didn't reply to Ventus, moving instead to simply hug Ventus. That was really all Ventus needed to happen to know that Aqua had reached the same sobering conclusion as he.

* * *

Outside, Terra was at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the castle entryways. Terra's body was tense as he stared at his empty hands, a dull expression on his face as he thought about what had just happened; what he had just endured. He had failed the Mark of Mastery Exam because of the darkness within him. All because of the fact his opponent had so relentlessly pressuring him in battle and he had panicked.

' _Once again, Aqua has bested me. She's the reason while I ultimately failed; I should have passed!'_ Terra thought glumly as he thought back to her joyed expression at her success. She was a Master now; he wasn't. While he was happy she had passed, his joy was tainted by the fact he felt like she was once again the source of his pain.

Terra felt his hands ball up into fists as he said, presumably to himself, "There's darkness within me…so what _does_ that matter? I know I am strong enough to hold it back…"

"Yes…" came the graveled voice Terra was familiar with, causing him to jump in surprise. Standing up and spinning around, Terra saw Master Xehanort standing at the top of the stairs, yellow eyes locked onto him. Terra blinked a few times as Master Xehanort said, "You are indeed strong, just like Aqua. The darkness is nothing to fear."

"Master Xehanort," Terra said, trying to formulate the words needed to express everything he was feeling right now. It was difficult for him to properly do so right away however. This allowed Xehanort to continue speaking to Terra.

"And yet…how frustrating that Arthur refutes its power. While I stand by my decision, my choice was not based on the fact you have darkness, but that you merely need a bit more education on how to properly bring your power to bear," Master Xehanort explained to the brunette below him. Walking down the stairs, he continued to explain his reasoning in better detail to Terra. "You could train forever with Eraqus and still, you've never managed the same level of power as Aqua. His teachings are much better suited to her, not you."

Terra seemed to be quite caught off-guard by the elderly Master's words, causing to him cry out, "But why? Help me understand, Master Xehanort! What is it that I have failed to learn from Master Eraqus?" He knew Master Eraqus was an excellent teacher, but maybe it wasn't Terra who was at fault, but his Master? Maybe it was that Eraqus could never fully bring out Terra's _full_ potential.

Still, conflicting emotions told Terra that ultimately it was still his fault, not Master Eraqus, followed by Aqua for pushing him so hard.

Master Xehanort replied with an almost amused tone, "You are fine as you are." Walking past Terra, Master Xehanort began to gesture a bit as he walked away, explaining, "Darkness cannot be destroyed. It can only be channeled."

Terra began to digest those words; they carried an air of validity to them, thanks in part to Terra's own experience. After all, Terra had tried repeatedly to force back his darkness, with increasingly worse results. Maybe he just needed to allow himself to use darkness more so he could properly manage it? Terra went to attention now and bowed thankfully, replying, "Thank you, Master Xehanort."

Master Xehanort glanced over his shoulder at Terra and nodded, replying, "Should you require my assistance, I would be more than glad to help, my boy."

There it was; the carrot on the stick for the rabbit to chase. Master Xehanort turned away from Terra as his expression shifted to happiness, wanting to take up the elderly Master's offer. However, Master Xehanort then said, "However, I must depart for now. It will give you some time to really think over my offer."

Undaunted, Terra nodded and replied, "Yes, Master Xehanort. Thank you very much." Turning away from Master Xehanort, Terra paused and then looked back at Master Xehanort. He had realized he had no manner of contact the ancient Master, so he asking, "How will I be able to contact you, Master Xehanort, once I make my choice?"

"I will contact you when the time is right, Terra. Do not worry yourself over such details; we Master have our ways, after all," Xehanort replied with a chuckle. Knowing this had satisfied the young man, Xehanort listened as Terra thanked him once again and then swiftly depart up the stairs.

While Terra rushed back up the white stairs, Xehanort opened a Corridor of Darkness before him and stepped into the rolling clouds of darkness before his Corridor faded into nothingness.

* * *

Aqua had entered the Main Hall, seeing Master Arthur and Master Eraqus conversing with one another. She could see Master Xehanort was nowhere to be seen; it was likely he had already departed. What had actually brought her here was foolish: she wanted to talk to the Masters to see if Terra had actually failed. Her mind told her she was stupid, thinking otherwise, but her heart was combating her logical mind viciously, saying Terra couldn't have failed.

Both Masters noticed her approach, with Master Arthur looking over to her and saying, "And here's our newest Master!" He seemed rather cheerful, but his cheerful mood was quickly ended by the rather dourer look Aqua's face had. Already, he knew what she was here for. Glancing to Master Eraqus, Master Arthur said, "I think you need to inform our newest Master of her friend's results…"

Eraqus knew he had to tell her, but he was not very fond of the idea that he had to be the bearer of even more bad news. Turning to face Aqua, he reached out and grasped her shoulders gently before he spoke. "Aqua, what I am about to tell you is not something I enjoy in the slightest…"

Before he could finish, Aqua felt like her world was falling down all around her. His tone, the way Master Arthur had spoke to her as the only new Master, it all was settling into her heart painfully. She looked away as tears threatened to spill forth from her eyes, saying in a tiny voice, "Terra failed. How? How did he fail? He…he wasn't supposed to…"

"Aqua, you have to understand he failed because of reasons you cannot control. It hurts, this I understand, but sometimes fate is not very kind to people for reasons we can only understand later," Eraqus said in a comforting tone as he tried to comfort Aqua. He knew she wanted Terra to accomplish his dream, having devoted quite a bit of her own time to helping her friend. To know he hadn't passed must had hurt her greatly.

Aqua didn't reply to her Master—' _former Master_ ,' her mind dully noted with no fanfare—because she felt like if she did, she would start crying. She didn't want to cry like this, but at the same time, her heart was grieving painfully.

Sadly, she wasn't going to get the time to grieve properly, at least not yet.

Suddenly, bells that reminded Aqua of those you'd find at a church began to ring, causing the bluenette to jump slightly. Using her white bell sleeves to quickly whip away her tears before they could spill, Aqua looked to Master Eraqus and Arthur, who both glanced over to the thrones.

Seeing a pink light sparkling from behind the thrones, Master Arthur was quick to speak, remarking, "This might be a bad sign. Let us go see what Yen Sid has to say!"

Master Eraqus frowned slightly, a feeling of something terrible passing through his stomach before he began to walk over to the pink crystal seated behind the wooden thrones. He certainly hadn't expected a communication from Yen Sid so soon after the Mark; this was cause for concern in his mind. Master Arthur followed him shortly there after.

' _Yen Sid…'_ Aqua thought for a moment before the sounds of running footsteps caused her to look over her shoulder. Seeing Terra running towards her made her heart twinge painfully, but now wasn't the time to talk to him about such a fresh wound.

Terra came to a half next to Aqua, regarding her with stony expression that Aqua didn't like to see on his face. Terra didn't tell Aqua with words, but with his expressions that he was upset with her. He wasn't going to tell her what he was feeling, so he instead asked, "What's going on? I heard the bells…"

Aqua looked back to where Master Eraqus and Arthur had went, seeing them both gathered close to something behind the center throne. Aqua and Terra had both seen the pink crystal behind the throne before, but neither had really been privy to what it was for. Aqua had a feeling it had some value, but had never asked. Now, she realized it was used for long distant communications.

"I don't know…why isn't Ven here?" Aqua asked, noticing the their blonde friend was rather strangely absent. A chilly feeling passed over her once again, but this time she knew it wasn't from Terra or Xehanort. She felt like something was in the castle with them, without anyone being aware.

Terra didn't respond to her, not feeling up to answering her question despite the fact that he too was curious as to where Ventus was. He figured Ventus would have come rushing to the Main Hall as well, but his absence was bothering him. Still, he focused his attention on Master Arthur and Eraqus as the two men came walking over with concerned expressions on their faces.

"Don't worry about my world, Master Eraqus. I can assure you I will protect my people from this new threat," Master Arthur said before swiftly departing, hurrying past Aqua and Terra. Obviously, something was wrong for him to depart so suddenly.

The new Master and Terra's attentions were drawn to Master Eraqus as he spoke to them, a grave tone that forewarned them that their worries were not unfounded.

"That was my dear old friend Yen Sid. As you both know, he is Master no more, but he still keeps a close eye on the tides of light and darkness," Master Eraqus said to both of the Keyblade bearers before him. "His counsel serves as signposts we Keyblade wielders must use on the roads we walk. As such, he has informed me that the Princesses of Heart are in danger. This threat is from a new threat, one that feeds off of negativity."

There was a pause that allowed Aqua and Terra to take in this information, some of which they were well aware of, but new things as well. Resuming his talking, Master Eraqus said, "Fledgling emotions that have taken monster form. Yen Sid calls them Unversed; I tried to pass on these warnings to Master Xehanort, but I could not reach him. He is not one for staying silent like this. There maybe no connection, but his sudden silence troubles me."

He looked to Terra now, clearly giving the young man orders now. "Terra, you orders are to go forth and cull the worlds of the Unversed…"

Now Eraqus's vision landed on Aqua's form now and what he said made Aqua cringed. "Master Aqua, while I cannot order you, I trust you are willing like Terra to help cull the threat of the Unversed."

Terra's hands clenched into fists when he heard Aqua get addressed as a Master. He knew he deserved the title as well, but right now he dared no to voice how he was feeling, despite the bubbling anger that threatened to burst forth from within.

"Both of you must search for Master Xehanort as well. You may use the Lanes Between to travel to the worlds, but remember the darkness looms close in these corridors. You cannot let anyone know other words exist," Master Eraqus stated, knowing his students both knew this, but firmly reminded them both of this fact.

As the missions ahead began to settle into each warrior's minds, Terra was jolted from his thoughts as Master Eraqus called out his name. The tone was no longer stern, but caring and worried. "Terra, this is also an opportunity. Consider it a second chance to change the minds of Master Arthur and Master Xehanort, once he is located."

Terra was silent as Master Eraqus approached him slowly, reaching him and placing his hands gently on the man's tense shoulders. "I care for you like my own son. If I could have, I would have named you a Master long ago. But how could I when you are so obsessed with power? Being the strongest isn't being the one with the most raw power…it is a lesson that you haven't grasped yet."

Terra looked away, knowing his Master's words were heartfelt and true. It was hard to immediate dispel the anger lingering within his mind, but Master Eraqus's words certainly helped out. "Your fear has created your obsession with power, further beckoning the darkness within. You must never forget the dangers of obsession."

Seeing his Master was only trying to help him once again, he smiled and said, "Thank you Master. I swear…I will not fail you again." And with that, Terra was quick to depart, a renewed feeling of confidence in his heart.

As he left, Aqua watched him go, knowing he wasn't going to speak to her for a time. That hurt her, but she did her best to let it go. She looked back to Master Eraqus and said, "Master Eraqus, I'd best be on my way."

And with that, Aqua departed, but stayed some distance behind Terra.

As Eraqus watched them both leave, he couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to transpire.

* * *

 **Thank for all of you who have followed, favorited, or have done both for this story! It's been incredibly fun to write this thus far and I am pleased that so many people have enjoyed it. Even if you haven't wrote a review, if you have read and enjoyed this story is more than enough for me!  
**

 **This chapter was very difficult to write because it took me a moment of come up with more suitable challenges for Aqua and Terra in regards to their Marks. Honestly, little balls of light are a tad underwhelming for the story...**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Seven: Running**_

' _It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.'—Confucius_

* * *

Today had left Ventus feeling drained and saddened. What was supposed to be a great day full of celebration and merriment had degraded into something much worse. Terra had failed his Mark, then both him and Aqua had hurriedly departed in order to combat a threat called the Unversed, as Master Eraqus had explained to him after his patience for waiting on his friend's return had finally worn thin.

Imagine his dismay to find both Aqua and Terra were gone. Although he knew his friends were both fully capable in handling themselves, he was none-the-less worried about them both. They were rushing off to face the unknown; they had to do their duty has Keyblade bearers.

But as Ventus walked down the hallway back to his room with a slouched posture, he just wished he could join them. He wanted to see the universe at large and help his friends defend those who couldn't defend themselves. But Aqua and Terra would no doubt tell him what Master Eraqus would tell him.

 _You're not prepared. You're not ready._

Oh, sure, Ventus told himself he was ready; he had been training just as hard as both Terra and Aqua, but they had years on him. Although this gap in time didn't fully deter Ventus and he did understand he wasn't as powerful as Aqua or Terra, he wished they would have more faith in his developing strength. He certainly didn't feel weak.

Aqua had once told him that there were many horrors in the universe and to go out and face them unprepared was foolish. She didn't want her precious friend to be hurt because he wasn't able to handle what he was training to face: those who threatened the innocent. He had tried to tell her otherwise, but she wouldn't have any of it.

Terra was no different. While he was less protective of him than Aqua, he none-the-less agreed with the blue haired mage. Terra had given him a bemused look before shaking his head back and forth much to Ventus's chagrin.

" _Ven, you're not ready to go out there. It's too dangerous," Terra said to him as he folded his arms over his chest. "One day, you'll be able to go to see universe to help protect it, but you gotta wait. We had to wait, just like you. I know it sucks, but you gotta follow the rules."_

So, Ventus did as he peers and Master had repeatedly told him: he followed the rules. He wanted to go running after his friends so badly that it hurt, but he also knew that they would worry greatly about him if he suddenly elected to act on how he was feeling. Plus, his Master would be furious to learn that Ventus had run away. There was no reason to sully an already bad day with even more distressful feelings.

Ventus sighed heavily as he slumped even more, eyes staring at the ground and not fully paying attention to his path before him. He was on auto-pilot now, having become more than familiar with the layout of the castle by now to accomplish this feat. His mind was still buzzing with thoughts, no matter how much Ventus tried to subdue them.

' _I don't get it. Everyone has darkness right? So, why would or should a little flare up of it make Terra fail? Terra's too strong for the darkness to take him,'_ the blonde thought as he tried to rationalize, even now, why Terra had failed. That new Master Ventus had never seen, Master Arthur, had been quite harsh in his explanation of why he felt Terra failed. He was even worse than Master Eraqus when it came to darkness it seemed.

The young boy knew there wasn't any favoritism involved in the Mark, but he wondered if Master Xehanort had allowed Aqua to pass because he happened to taken a liking to Aqua's tremendous skills. Terra's prowess was no less than the newly christen Master, Ventus believed, so why had Terra been on the defensive so much? Had something rattled him and disrupted his concentration? He wished he could have asked Terra, if only to help himself.

It wouldn't be long before Ventus would reach his room and its relative comfort, so he could do whatever it took to calm his shaky nerves. He needed to free himself of the shadows invading his mind.

Upon reaching his door and opening it, Ventus's eyes widened as any pretense of rest and relaxation evaporated at the sight of a dark figure in his room, arms crossed as if the being in question had been waiting for his arrival rather impatiently.

This figure was vicious looking, with lean muscle under a predominately black suit, with red veins on it. He had what appeared to be a jet black helmet that completely hid his face, concealing his identity. He looked sinister; Ventus was not going to take any chances.

Ventus instantly went on the defensive, summoning his Keyblade in a flash of light, getting into his combat stance right away. His expression hardened; he was really not in the mood to put up with someone invading his room! He rather angrily spat, "Who are you!? And what are you doin' in my room!?"

The unknown figure made no moves to prepare for a fight. In fact, he scoffed in disdain at Ventus, which only served to further upset the blonde, who gritted his teeth. Ventus was about to aggressively move to attack this enemy but what he said made the blonde reconsider his attack.

"You're really pretty spineless, aren't you? Stuck here in this tiny world because your Master said you had to stay. You're so pathetic it makes me wonder why your friends are even that," the masked boy said with a chuckle. Ventus could envision by the tone of his voice that the dark being in front of him was smirking. There was such arrogance carried by that voice, too, along with evil intent that made Ventus's hair stand up.

"Shut up!" Ventus countered rather lamely, not exactly able to conjure up a witty retort at the moment; it was never his forte to begin with. The dark boy laughed at him as a result, clearly not impressed with this display from Ventus. Despite the situation, Ventus felt his cheeks redden from embarrassment.

"That's all you gotta say? I'm _shaking_ in my boots…" the masked boy began before he finished with, "Shaking from trying to contain my laughter! You're a really piece of work, sitting here, thinking you can face me. You wanna play hero, but you haven't got a clue that your friends will not be the same when you see them again."

 _That_ made Ventus very worried. Something was going on here. The blonde wasn't sure what, but he knew a threat to his friends when he heard one. And that had definitely fallen well within that category. Ventus growled and said, "What do you mean? My friends are going to be fine! You don't know anything about them!"

The masked figure gave a physical reply in the form of a one finger salute that made Ventus seethe with anger, making him clench his weapon even tighter than before. A verbal response followed up the physical, the masked boy stating, "I know more than _you_. I know that Terra and Aqua will be completely different. And you _can't_ do a thing to stop it, especially cooped up on your little, miserable mudball of a world."

There was a pause before a much darker, twisted statement made Ventus abandon any pretense of following the Master's orders.

"And even if you do come running, you'll be too late. All that will greet you is shattered memories and broken dreams."

With that, the figure was quick to create what Ventus observed to be a swirling blob of darkness that he casually walked into, clearly unafraid of the darkness. The moment the dark figure disappeared into the darkness, the portal vanished into dying wisps of chilly shadows. Ventus was left alone; it was like the dark phantom had never even been in his room.

But Ventus knew what he had just seen and experienced was very much a reality. And now, Ventus knew his friends were in trouble. They might not be in danger yet, but the danger was coming. Aqua and Terra had no way of knowing that someone was after them! Or, worse still, maybe even more than one person! What if there was an entire army out there, hunting for both Aqua and Terra?

"I have to warn them!" Ventus declared quickly, making his decision lightning fast. Whatever the consequences of leaving the world against his Master's orders, Ventus knew his friends needed a warning. He might be the only one with the knowledge needed to protect his friends, even if it was just warning them of impending doom.

Bolting from his room in a hurry, pushing the door out of his way with a loud bang, Ventus ran as fast as he legs would allow him. He heard his door slam shut from the force of bouncing off of the wall; he hoped he hadn't damaged the door or wall. Some memories of his friends flickered through his mind as he ran and ran.

The first was of Aqua giving him a wreath for his door. It had been for him when he had woken up, but she he delayed giving it to him so he could recover.

 _Ventus just hadn't expected this when he had heard a knock at his door. Upon opening it, he was greeted with Aqua._

" _This is for you, Ven!"Aqua said in a cheerful voice, holding out a beautiful wreath in front of her. The wreath itself had green colored flowers in the center of the base, with greenery around the flowers and crawling up the grapevine base. There was a big white 'V' in the center of the wreath. Aqua had a beaming smile on her face; she hoped that Ventus would really appreciate this gift. She had been waiting for the right moment to give it to him; now that he had recovered a large majority of his memories, Aqua felt this was the time to give the gift to him._

 _Ventus's eyes had gone wide in surprise, clearly caught off-guard by this before his surprise was quickly overcome by happiness. He rushed over to Aqua, closing the distance and hugging her tightly as he said, "I love it, Aqua! Thank you!"_

 _Aqua did her best to return the hug, plus keep ahold of the wreath so she wouldn't drop it. Aqua giggled a bit before responding, "There's no need to thank me. This is the sort of things friends do for one another."_

Ventus didn't want Aqua to change. He didn't want her to become something she wasn't meant to be. She was sweet, loving, caring, brave, and had the qualities Ventus wanted to aspire too.

A memory of Terra came now.

 _Ventus had not yet developed his own fighting style. He was still learning the basics of the Keyblade and magic. Therefore, it wasn't expect of Ventus to reach the point where he had started developing his own style, as well as his own attacks that suited his style._

 _However, he was trying to mimic others._

" _What in the world are you doin', Ven?" Terra asked his friend with a look mixed between bewilderment and amusement. This look had spawn from Terra finding his blonde friend trying to emulate Terra's fighting style at the lower training ground after training that day, trying his hardest to perform combinations that Terra did regularly with ease._

 _These same moves were far too much for Ventus, who wasn't able to generate the level of power needed to perform Terra's moves right. The result was not only did the attacks no hit hard enough, but Ventus recoiled from the blows and lost control of his Keyblade. This created glaring openings that anyone could exploit._

" _I'm trying out your moves!" Ventus said with a cheer tone that didn't betray the fact he was quite disappointed in himself. He couldn't do Terra's heavy handed attacks at all; nor could he really perform Aqua's more swan-like moves._

" _I can see that…but why?" Terra questioned as he walked over the clearly exhausted Ventus, who had been doggedly trying for who knows how long to pull of Terra's techniques._

" _W-Well, I figured I can try and see if your style fits me, since Aqua's didn't…" Ventus said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, clearly feeling a bit embarrassed with himself. He couldn't help but to feel totally inadequate because he had no style; he had nothing that stood out, aside from speed. He wanted to prove to his friends he wasn't one that needed to be babied so much._

 _Terra, upon hearing this, chuckled slightly before walking over to a near-by stone bench, gesturing for Ventus to come and take a seat. He knew where this conversation was going to head, so he preempted any sort of run around. It was time for Ventus to learn something about himself and about his friends. The blonde had been so focus on trying to mimic his friends that he was no seeing the scope of the Master's lessons._

 _Ventus, after a moment, dismissed his Keyblade and moved over to the bench, taking a seat next to the much burlier brunette. As he got comfortable, Terra began to speak._

" _Ventus, there's no need to try and mimic either mine or Aqua's style of battle. They're not suited to your skills at all! So, why are you trying to mimic us?" Terra asked rhetorically, holding his hand up to silence Ventus as he opened up his mouth to answer. "I already know what you're gonna say: 'I'm behind and holding you both back!' Or 'I'm weak!'"_

" _W-Well…" the blonde stammered before Terra cut him off. The brunette wasn't going to allow that train of thought to depart the station that was Ventus's mouth._

" _I'm slow and have the muscle; Aqua is a talent mage. You, you're limber and fast. We developed our fighting styles over time and it didn't come quickly. You gotta relax, show some patience, stop worry about being 'behind,' and make your own style, your own brand that suits you."_

 _And with that, Terra ruffled up Ventus's hair playfully, grinning all the while._

 _Ventus, still not entirely convinced of Terra's words, smiled and replied, "Yeah…I guess you're right, Terra. Thanks!"_

The memories subsided for now. Instead, Ventus had cleared his mind of those memories thanks to his increasing worry, which seemed to grow with each step he bounded down as he left the castle. But with the worry came growing determination. This determination was what ultimately fueled Ventus.

So long as he breathed, he would protect his friends.

Coming to a sliding halt outside of the castle, Ventus prepared to summon his armor and Keyblade Glider. His right hand snapped up and slapped the yellow pad on his left shoulder with great force. There was a great burst of light that swirled over and then around Ventus, obscuring his form from view.

Once the light faded away, Ventus was revealed to have donned his Keyblade armor. The armor sported colors of steel blue, gold, and black armor, with several red lines decorating the armor plating. The knees bore a sharp, upward-pointing hook on the outer side of each one. Ventus's helmet was also squashed and flat at the top, with two prongs on either side of his head which point backwards and angle diagonally upward.

Quickly, Ventus threw his Keyblade into the sky, the weapon turning into a ball of white light, metamorphosing into a totally new shape. As the light faded, Ventus's Keyblade Glider came rushing down to him, the young boy leaping onto it and flying up into the blue sky, almost as a vertical angle.

' _Sorry, Master Eraqus…I hope you'll understand!'_ Ventus thought as he rocketed up and away from Land of Departure, to explore the worlds beyond in search of his friends.

Little did he know that events beyond his control had already been sent in motion. The chains of fate are not easily broken, nor are they easily re-forged.

But Ventus was stubborn; he would never stop trying.

* * *

After some time of flying through the vastness of space, a canopy of darkness illuminated by specks of glimmering light, Ventus had finally stumbled upon a world. It was a small place, but Ventus was quick to decide to land on it. He couldn't afford to pass up any worlds, least he miss either of his friends because he wasn't going to be thorough in his search of them.

As Ventus flew over the thick forest below him, he could see a grand, sparkling castle off in the distance. Ventus was taken aback at the sheer mass of the castle, with all its towers jutting up into the night sky. It was _huge!_ And he had thought the castle of Land of Departure was big. This place dwarfed the golden castle back at home. Slowing down, Ventus took in the view of the place.

This pause also allowed him to pause and think on what his plan was. He already knew that flying above and landing in such a large place would be foolhardy. Looking for a place to land, Ventus noticed two places: a large opening in the forest and a chateau, of which Ventus noticed carried an oppressive air about it. While selecting his landing zone as the clearing in the forest, he immediate knew he wanted to check out the mansion hidden in the forest away from the castle.

Ventus's Glider floated down to the clearing until the blonde leapt off and landed gracefully in the center of the silent clearing. As Ventus looked around, something was wrong to the blonde. This silence was unnerving; there should be the sounds of crickets, owls, and other wildlife, right? So why was it so silent? It was as if the animals had run off in fear of something.

White light swirled around the blonde, his armor disappearing and returning to the pad from which it was summoned. Ventus was wearing his normal garb, the best clothing that would give him the best flexibility (although not the best defense!) Summon his Keyblade, Wayward Wind, the young boy felt like he needed to be armed.

"Something feels…wrong here," Ventus muttered, expressing his concern at the unnatural silence he was experiencing.

That's when Ventus heard voices, distance voices, three in total. All of them sounded female, but two in particular sounded downright unpleasant. Loud and obnoxious to the point Ventus felt himself cringing. Quickly looking for some cover, Ventus darted into the thick undergrowth. Not normally one for listening in on people, he also knew that his Master told him to be careful when meddling in internal affairs of worlds. If it wasn't something related to Unversed, then Ventus knew he'd have to find other reasons to interfere.

"I can't believe the Prince picked Cinderella over _us_ to dance _with!_ He must have poor taste!" one voice whined as three woman came into Ventus's view. All three women seemed to be wearing an formal attire; all three were quite angry about something, with the center woman mostly silent, but face clearly contorted in anger. The whiny voice had come from a thin young woman with a round face and nose. Her hair is long, orange, and worn with short, neatly-cut bangs over her forehead and several curls in the back.

"It's not fair at all! Mother, you need to do _something_ about this!" the other woman said, indicating to Ventus that at least one of the girls was the older lady's daughter. She was thin like the other girl, but with a round face, and equally round nose. Her cheeks looked swollen. Her hair had parted bangs and several roughly shoulder-length curls in the back.

There was an older woman with the two brightly dressed women, who had pointed, triangular facial features, including a relatively large, hooked nose with pronounced creases on either side of it. Her eyes were light green, with black high-set eyebrows on her face. Her hair was worn in a short, heart-shaped style, grey in color with a light streak of grey in the front. There was eye shadow on her worn features and dull red lipstick painting her lips, as well as a blue-green, orb-shaped earring on each ear and a matching ring on her right ring finger. She had a formal attire of pleated, purple dress with short sleeves, a high, violet-pink collar, and frills of the same color at the end of both sleeves.

"Do not worry dear daughters; Cinderella _will_ be put into her place. Mark my words," the mother said in a dark tone that made Ventus immediately worried for this 'Cinderella.' They had to be planning something bad and Ventus definitely wanted to prevent it. But at the same time, he wasn't supposed to interfere.

That's when Ventus spotted something behind them that basically gave him a reason to start investigating what was happening around this place. As the woman travelled past his hiding place, the young Keyblade bearer could see monsters forming in their wake. It was like the intense feelings of hatred and contempt they had for the person they were talking about was spawning these things; or maybe they were feeding off of it and multiplying. Whatever the reason, Ventus could rightfully assume these _things_ had to be Unversed.

The monsters were blue in coloration, ant-like in nature, with triangle shaped heads. They twitched wildly, like they could barely control their motions, muscles contracting erratically as they followed the trio of woman and continued to swell in numbers. Whatever they were called, Ventus waited for the woman to disappear from his view as they walked down the dusty pathway before he sprang into action. He was going to clear these guys out right now!

Leaping from the brush with a loud cry and rustle, Ventus's launching threw leaves and limbs everywhere as he brought his Keyblade up and then down onto the head of one of the monsters, slicing it cleanly in half. It disintegrated into wisps of inky darkness and purple smoke, a very unnatural death. As it died, the name _Flood_ popped into Ventus's mind. A rather accurate name for the monsters, thanks to the fact Ventus, as he came to a skidding landing, found he was outnumbered fifteen to one.

And so Ventus's first true battle began. This was the real thing; his life was on the line. Here, he couldn't afford to make mistakes.

Oddly enough, Ventus wasn't afraid. He was worried and excited. He was feeling so many conflicting emotions right now, but he quickly pushed them into the recesses of his mind. He had to focus right now.

Ventus was quick to allow the lead group of four Floods to rush him, the group attempting to leap onto him. Before they could attempt to pin him down to the ground, the blonde was rolling back quickly, throwing his Keyblade at them in the form of a Strike Raid. Much to Ventus's glee, the spinning Keyblade killed all four Floods as it spun through them, tearing through their blue bodies efficiently. As they died, the next wave came in quickly, with some of them melting into the ground and moving through it as blue blobs while a few remained above ground to attack Ventus and distract him from the threat from below.

' _Well, that's different…'_ Ventus thought has he rolled away from several simultaneous attacks from the small enemies, counter attacking the closing two with swift Keyblade strikes that did both opponents in, although the Floods proved to be more durable to Ventus's normal strikes. Each required four to six hits, allowing three Floods to close the distance on the blonde and attack. The young warrior grunted as claws dug into his sides painfully. They had hurt him, but not enough to slow Ventus down. Two more Floods were fell by Ventus's combined Keyblade strikes and follow up Fira spell, the ball of flame exploding and instantly killing the small blue creature.

The enemy's numbers were falling, but Ventus was being seized by a bad feeling. He felt like something bad was about to happen to this Cinderella. Ventus had to hurry! He couldn't afford to keep playing around here!

It wasn't long before Ventus had killed off the army of Floods, rushing to head in the direction the trio of wicked ladies had departed, but soon more Floods appeared, along with two much larger monsters that clearly looked ready to dish out more than bruises on his form. There were ten enemies now, less than before, but Ventus had a feeling the larger, bulker monsters that towered over him would require much more time to kill off.

But he had a trick up his sleeve. While Ventus didn't have as many skills as Aqua or Terra, he did have some abilities than where uniquely his. He developed them through his own experiences with his friends, taking in their suggestions and working to perfect them long before this trial by fire.

A Shotlock of his own design.

He stood his ground at before the Floods and the newly christen Bruiser Unversed, allowing the group to get closer to him. He needed them as bunched up as possible so he could take them all out in one massive volley. If he failed, he'd have to use more conventional tactics; more time wasted.

Quickly, the blonde backpedaled to make some room and to allow his Shotlock to actually catch this entire group before they all rushed at him. The enemy Floods and Bruisers were already starting to advance on him, like a tidal wave of flesh (assuming they were actually made of that!), trying to keep him under constant pressure, almost like they were aware he was trying something. It was plain they weren't stupid enemies, although Ventus had trained with Aqua and Terra, making him a bit more than the normal opponent.

So Ventus had more than enough time to smash the entire enemy force apart with a single volley of Pulse Bomb, the blasts pushing back the group and stunning them. Several of the Floods died instantly, becoming nothing more than wisps of darkness that soon faded into non-existence. The Bruiser required another series of follow up volleys that continued to keep them stunlocked, unable to properly recover from the Shotlock.

Soon, the area was cleared. The darkness that seemed to blanket the area seemed to retreat back to whence it came, creating some sort of semblance of peace.

Once that was done, Ventus took a quick survey of the area, noticing that no more opponents came out to attack him. It appeared he had cleared out the area, allowing him rest for just a moment. But not for long…

He had a person to save!

* * *

 _ **I am so very sorry for the long delay in chapters! I would have added more beef to this chapter, but I couldn't seem to add more to it, mostly because we know the story: Ventus is basically doing Aqua's story right now, so he fights the Cursed Coach and all. And since we saw how that went, I elected to not go too far into it.**_

 _ **If you guys believe I should do such things, I certainly will! But I felt like it was just pointless to tell the story over again when the game does it so well, heh.**_

 _ **As a note, the story will be changed very vastly from here on out. There will be some time skips, especially if I don't intend to reinvent the story of the world.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoy and I hope you continue to support the story!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter Eight: Putrid**_

' _Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.'—Frederick Douglas_

* * *

Putrid darkness.

That was the very first thing that really stood out wot Aqua when she arrived on this world. The entire city she found herself in was smothered in it. Aqua wished she could chalk it up to the presence of Unversed, to which she hadn't seen yet, but her gut instinct told her there was much more to this place. The darkness seemed to hang thickly in the air, making even the colorful atmosphere of the city—was there a festival about to happen?—seem to dull, like the life of the colors was slowly being sucked away. It was almost like the city was rotting from within.

Aqua's armored boots clicked excessively loud in the silent streets, eyes looking around the area as she entered what appeared to be large courtyard dominated by a stunning, huge church. She wished this place didn't seem to have such an air of darkness about it. The city itself, from what limited amounts she had seen (also, this place seemed awfully quiet), was quite beautiful. It was full of Gothic styled structures that seemed to command respect and catch the eye, each of the main buildings of the city constructed with tender loving and care; they were the pride of many people who had likely helped designed and built them. Even the plain houses seemed to be quite clean and presentable to the world as a whole. There were signs of humanity activity or at least sentient activity, but the people were either shut up in their homes or somewhere else.

Although she was enjoying the scenery, her mind was preoccupied by the feeling of dread she had, along with thoughts of how Terra had been behaving towards her. He hadn't spoke to her when they had departed Land of Departure. The brunette, in his extremely stubborn ways, hadn't even said 'Goodbye' to her, although she had wished him well and told him to stay safe. It had been plain as day he intended to hurt her feelings before they parted ways.

' _I wonder…does he feel regret for treating me like that?'_ Aqua thought as she came to a halt in the center of the courtyard, taking in a deep breath as her head throbbed slightly from the sheer amount of darkness that seemed to permeate the air around her. She couldn't really afford to be thinking about the less than positive farewell that she and Terra had had. It only served to add to the negativity in the air. It was good she had been training so much in order to make her ability more beneficial and less harmful to her.

As such, Aqua could detect two stronger blips of darkness, but she couldn't track them effectively due to the sheer amount of ambient darkness around her. What in the world was making this normally colorful place so dank?

' _Well, stick around and I'm sure you'll found out,'_ Aqua thought dryly before she turned to face the massive church on her right. Oddly enough, for a place that was supposed to be holy and full of light, it seemed to be one of the darkest places on this world. What could that mean?

Aqua couldn't really ponder the possibilities of why a church was like this when multiple shrieks, loud enough she could hear it through the thick, wooden doors, made Aqua's eyes widen and her stance shift to a surprised one. Those screams were laced with terror and that alone was all it took to prompt Aqua to act. Questions could be answered later. People were in trouble!

Her feet carried as Aqua sprinted towards the doors of the church, reaching them in marathon record time as she used her magic to blow one of the doors open, a pulse of wind building in her left hand moments before impact. Right before Aqua would have shoulder checked the door, an Aerora smashed into the door with a gusty howl, flinging it open with a fierce bang as Aqua ran through and into the church. She heard some more startled gasps from what she presumed where bystanders or victims, clearly caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of the blue haired woman in a dead sprint. Of course, they didn't stay to observe what was to come, using this opportunity to flee right away. A mob of people exited the church in a panic; the reason why was plain as day.

Greeting Aqua's eyes was the sight of a man surrounded by monsters, in the center of the massive hallways with blue and white stone floor, with dozens of candles lining it sides. Blue, twitchy creatures, along with creatures that where basically living boots with faces, curved horns on their heads, and a strange emblem on the front of the boot, bobbed and weaved in a circle around a rather deformed man with a large hunch on his back, along with a lump above his left eye. He also had a large nose and a massive central incisor. The large man was garbed in a green tunic, black trousers and blue shoes. He seemed unsure of what to do about the monsters around him, looking panicked himself, but Aqua could see he was defending a small girl who had been separated from her parents. The newly minted Keyblade master could see her terrified parents close by, but they were too afraid to get closer to save their daughter.

Aqua could see the monsters where quite focused on the man and the small girl, not noticing her or the departing crowd. Aqua used this lack of focus to attack, throwing her Keyblade into a trio of the small monsters— _Floods_ , her mind said—while firing a Firaga into a pair of boot monsters, where were rightly called Shoe Gazers. The attacks caught the group aware, resulting in their instant deaths. They turned into puffs of misty purple, black, and blue darkness; their deaths also gave a wide enough opening for the girl to escape. Both the man and the girl were just as shocked by Aqua's appearance, but she didn't have time for introductions as she caught her returning Keyblade, yelling, "Run, get out of here!"

The girl, wide eyed and afraid, still managed to overcome her terror and scramble to her feet and bolt before the monsters got reinforcements that closed the ring around Aqua and the deformed man. Aqua took stock and solace in the fact the girl was able to rejoin her parents without issue, allowing all three to flee. However, she was just as fast to shift her attention back to the monsters. More of the Floods, along with four much larger monsters that had a very heavy built, either coming out of the ground itself or swirling into existence out of thin air. Bruisers, Shoe Gazers, Floods…four big monsters, twelve of the boots, and thirty of the small ones; Aqua was going to have her hands full with this many opponents of unknown strength.

Glancing to the man as she stayed near him protectively, she said to him, "I'll make another opening so you can get out of here. I'll handle the monsters."

Much to her surprise—and, honestly, _admiration_ —the man looked back her with fiery determination and replied, "N-No! This place is my home and I won't like them make this place of sanctuary into a place of fear!" He was plain he wasn't going to run from these monsters. It was quite the opposite. The man was going to fight!

There was no time or ability to really convince the deformed man to chart a different course. "Alright…be careful!" Aqua said to the man, knowing she'd have to keep an eye on him. He was brave, but she didn't know how well he could fight or hurt these things. Aqua attacked with a fierce cry, performing a Sliding Dash to plunge her weapon into a Flood, instantly killing the small creature. She leapt back from a charging Bruiser, who flung its considerably mass at her. It missed, but Aqua was much quicker in her counterattack, firing a Firaga at it as she was leaping back. Unlike the Flood, the Bruiser was far tougher, tanking the crackling ball of flame. None the less, it was flung onto its back with a bang, stunning it as smoke rolled off of it. Rushing forward while avoiding a pair of leaping Floods, Aqua brought her Keyblade down onto it a final time, killing off the big creature. It turned into a puff of foul darkness as it died, Aqua shifting her attention to another Bruiser and a pair of Shoe Gazers.

Meanwhile, the unnamed man was doing his best to attack the mob of opponents, but he was clearly not where as skilled as Aqua. His attacks were more brutal in nature, as he was grabbed a Show Gazer by its face before throwing it into another Shoe Gazer with a bestial cry. The monsters smashed into one another with a crunch, making them fall onto the floor, flopping wildly to get back to their feet. As they did this, the man used a hammer fist to crush a Flood into nothing easily, followed by backhanding another Flood and ending its life as well.

However, he left his back open, allowing a Bruiser to brutally smash its right fist into his upper back with a thump, making him cry out in pain. The man crumpled down, hitting the ground chest first. He groaned in pain as the Bruiser lunged to try and finish him off, along with several Floods that slithered through the ground at him, popping up all around him to try and pin him down.

But, luckily for him, Aqua was paying attention to him. The moment he was knocked to the ground, Aqua was disengaging from her own opponents by electrocuting them with a Thundaga, yellow bolts of lightning raining from the sky and into a group of Unversed. She hit the Bruiser with a Firaga as she rushed to the downed man, the explosion of the billow ball of flame throwing the beast back, while Aqua unleashed a graceful of series of Keyblade strikes that was more like a deadly execution's dance to the Floods. They died with one hit each, each dealt with swiftly and efficiently. The Bruiser went last with another spell, a Blizzaga piercing it cleanly through the head, ripping it off.

As soon as she had killed off the enemies closest to the shaken man, Aqua quickly used a Cure spell to heal the damage the man had taken, followed by hauling him up to his feet. The man looked around and saw Aqua had cut down the number of enemies by half already! Her sheer power and skill was just too much for these things, even with their numbers, the man seemed to realize.

But Aqua felt like something was wrong. They seemed to be going down too easily to Aqua. It was almost like this was just a test of sorts. However, she had no time to dwell on the growing feeling in the pit of her stomach. There were still enemies to be dealt with!

Aqua started off her next offensive with a series of three leaping strikes, attacking a trio of Shoe Gazers, each blow crunching their heads into their bodies with a sqwelching noises before they, too, returned from wherever they came from. As Aqua landed next to a group of Floods, she spun hard, planting another Firaga into the group, the flames striking the ground with a crash and killing the entire group of six. Aqua was forced to block an uppercut from a Bruiser with her Keyblade, gritting her teeth at the force behind the blow. Aqua slid back as well, cartwheeling away before she slid into a group of Floods and Shoe Gazers. Those things might be slow, but they patch a hefty amount of power. No wonder the man had been hurt so much from a single connecting hit!

However, Aqua wasn't about to let these guys strike her much. The Bruiser was treated to a series of Keyblade strikes that killed it quickly, leaving only one Bruiser left. As he was dealing with the Bruiser, the opponents she had almost slid into attacked her en mass, rushing at her to try and overwhelm her. Aqua ducked and darted away from the kicks and claw swings, killing several that left themselves open with their aggressive, but sloppy assaults. She had been fighting with Terra; he was just as aggressive as these guys, but _far_ more skilled.

As such, compared to him, these guys were a bit of a joke.

Between the unnamed ally and Aqua, it didn't take long for the enemy to be defeated. As the final Flood was decapitated by Aqua'a swing, the darkness in the air was lessened considerably for Aqua, allowing her to let out a soft sigh of relief before dismissing her Keyblade in a flash of light and flower petals. For a moment, however, from one of the balconies above Aqua, to her left, she thought she saw a dark figure move out of her line of sight…

Her attention, however, was diverted from the possible shadow figure to the sound of the man to her right jogging over to her. Turning to face him, she was pleased to see he didn't take any more major damage from engaging the Unversed. He had been remarkably brave; plus, it showed that the Unversed could be killed with things aside from magical weapons. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask if the man was fine.

"Are you alright?" Aqua asked kindly as she inspected the deformed with critical eyes, not the one to recoil in disgust at the man's appearance. She wasn't judging him by his looks, after all. His actions spoke volumes to Aqua about the sort of man she was dealing with.

"Yes, those monsters didn't hurt me much. But you…you defeated them so effortlessly! If you hadn't arrived, all of those people coulda been hurt…"

' _Or worse,'_ the man added mentally before he said, "Why did you defend me, though?"

"It was the right thing to do. You defended that little girl, right?" Aqua asked the clearly caught off-guard man, who nodded back to her after recovering from his surprise. "Then what makes it different I did it for you? Just because we've just met doesn't mean I change my morals."

"But I'm hideous…" came the shame laced response as the man looked away from the blue haired woman who had saved him. Now it was her turn to be surprised as he said, "And the world outside is cruel and evil. If I go outside the walls of Notre Dame, no one will ever accept me into society. No one can accept such a deformed thing like me."

"Who in the world would even tell you that?" came the flabbergasted response from Aqua as her eyes widened in a mixture of bewilderment and anger. How could anyone declare someone would be damned from just venturing outside of the walls of church? Nortre Dame, as it was called, might be a lovely looking place, but there was more to the world than just this church! Even Aqua could realize this!

"My Master, Claude Frollo. He saved me when my mother abandoned me as a baby," the man said as he responded to her with the name of the person who had been telling this young man some rather poisonous thoughts. Although Aqua wondered if she was out of her place by trying to combat the ideals of the man's adoptive father, they just felt so criminal to Aqua. So _wrong._

"It was kind of him to adopt you, but it's wrong of him to say you'll never be accepted. Look…I am already accepting you. I'm from the outside," Aqua explained to the deformed man, catching his attention and causing him to look at her with wonderment. "Do you really believe I am the exception to the rule? Or do you believe your Master is wrong?"

"I…don't…I don't know…" the man said softly, clearly not sure what to think about Aqua's words. His face contorted on confusion as he tried to think about Aqua's words; however, the years of his Master's words and teachings hung heavy in his mind, like curtains of lead.

He was knocked out of his reverie when Aqua placed her hand gently on his shoulder, causing him to jump, before squeezing it reassuringly. She smiled at him kindly and said, "You don't need to know right now. Your heart has all the answers; you just need to look deep inside for them."

This seemed to have the desired effect of brighten up the man's confused and worried attitude, a more confident smile coming to his face as he nodded to her. He couldn't help but to smile with this woman's positive, infectious attitude. It was certainly a brighter outlook on the world than his Master's. However, he couldn't just discard all his Master's teachings.

"My name is Aqua. What is your name?" Aqua asked the man with a small, polite smile. They had been talking so much that she hadn't even asked him is name; she felt very rude for not asking earlier.

"My name is Quasimodo," the man said with a friendly, but shy smile. He had never had someone be so nice to him before. Master Frollo had forbid Quasimodo from even stepping a foot outside of Norte Dame because he would be shown little pity outside the wall. But here he was, being shown kindness from a total strange that had also defended him.

"That's a very unique name, Quasimodo," Aqua commented with a smile of her own. She had to admit at least Frollo had christened the young man before her with a truly unique name.

"Thank you, Aqua. Thank you for helpin' me and protecting Norte Dame," Quasimodo said with a slight chuckle at the woman's name. Her hair alone was befitting of her name, but her heart was what really gave her name meaning. "You know…maybe I can go to the Festival of Fools today! I can pretend to be wearing a mask and partake that way!"

And with that, the giddy Quasimodo rushed off to who knows where, leaving Aqua alone in the church's pillared hallway. The bluenette watched the deformed man until he disappeared from her view. He seemed quite excited to go to this Festival of Fools; that must be the reason why the city was so colorful. And Aqua distinctly remembered passing where she assumed the festival itself was.

But with the darkness still hanging in the air so much and not having been here long, the bluenette couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. And whatever it was, it was going to involve Quasimodo.

It looked like Aqua was going to be going to a festival today.

* * *

When Aqua got out to the Festival of Fools, she was certainly taken aback by the massive crowd in the area. The entire place was alive with laughter, dancing, and happiness, which seemed to clear the air of the darkness somewhat. She could see people of all creeds and ages at the Festival, all interacting and having a great time. It was certainly a far cry from what she had seen earlier in the day. The people here didn't seem to care about her looks—she really did stand out like a sore thumb!—or thought she was here for the festival. It was like the people of this place weren't going to allow the arrival of the Unversed to stop them from having their Festival of Fools, spitting into the face of the darkness the plagued their world. It was a good thing to bear witness to.

Aqua moved above to try and get a better idea of the area, looking for Quasimodo or anyone else that might be noticeable as persons of interest. Although she didn't see her new friend in the crowd or milling about through the rows of tables or benches, the bluenette did see a few people who caught her interest.

One of them had a very black heart.

She could see it so clearly now, especially with the darkness in the air weakened. While the second blip of foul darkness— _the stronger one_ , she noted—was gone, this one was here, in the courtyard. Her eyes settled on the source of the darkness, ignoring, for now, the colorfully dressed man on the main stage as he spoke.

There he was, sitting in a rich, blue colored throne with golden fleur-de-lis craved onto its face. The aged man with white hair and worn, wrinkled face appeared to be some sort of high-ranking public official, dressed in dark robes, a purple and black striped hat with a red ribbon attached, and shoulder pads with red stripes. Rings adorned his fingers, two on the right and one on the left, with the jewels colored red, green, and blue.

Aqua could see the hatred steeped onto his face, directed at the…colorful people? Gypsies, if she had heard the crowd correctly. Aqua had not a shadow of doubt this man was a source of great grief to others he deemed to be different than himself. As such, she also knew her looks would attract his unwanted attention.

Near this public official was a knight of some sort, a high ranking one at that. He was mostly plated in golden armor and blue clothing underneath and a blue cape. He was armed with a long sword that was clearly well taken care of. His neck-long blond hair matched his armor and a small goatee adorned his face. He was handsome, as well, but under all of those looks was a kind heart of a strong soldier.

Still, she hadn't seen Quasimodo, nor could she shake the feeling in her stomach that something bad was about to transpire.

By now, there was another person on the main stage, replacing the joker-like man in a blast of dark pink colored smoke. Aqua turned her attention to the woman's figure, who was cladded in a form fitting purple dress. She was striking in her beauty, with bright green eyes, tan skin, and raven colored hair that was long and flowing. She was extremely good at dancing, that much was obvious. She twirled and flipped about, teasing men who clearly had lusty feelings. She was even bold enough to leap over to the public official and pull him close with a piece of star patterned cloth, kissing his nose! The man recoiled in disgust, glare daggers at the woman as she retreated.

Her expression, on the other hand, was one of smug defiance.

She was brave, without a doubt, and Aqua found herself smirking with how the gypsy dancer was making the crowd laugh with her daring antics. Aqua wondered if she knew she was looking at evil in its cold eyes.

"And now that you have all seen the beautiful, lovely Esmeralda dance, I believe it's time to crowd the King of Fools!" the joker-like man announced, much to the crowd's roaring delight, while Esmeralda departed to a small tent. Aqua, however, felt her brows crunch up in confusion. What in the world where they all talking about?

And that's when Aqua saw Quasimodo. Her eyes widened when several man helped him onto a different stage, the deformed man covered in a heavy robe and a limp looking crown planted on his head. This particular stage looked like a wooden platform that whose top portion was a circular platform that could rotate. There were several prongs on the side of the platform as well.

Quasimodo was smiling as another man handed him a scepter, the crowd cheering his name. Aqua felt her lips tugging up into a smile as the crowd cheered and threw flowers at him, petals raining down all around him. Maybe her sinking feeling was nothing; maybe she was just overreacting.

That is until a tomato smashed into the smiling Quasimodo's face, splattering all over his face with red juices. The entire crowd went completely silent after a collective startled gasp, while Aqua's smile evaporated into a horrified expression as her eyes widened, mouth dropping open before her hand went over her mouth. She couldn't believe someone would be so nasty as to throw things at Quasimodo!

Quasimodo seemed rather surprised by this sudden turn of events. He slowly wiped the remains of the fruit that had struck him off of his face, looking around at the now silent crowd, before looking at his drenched hand. Aqua looked in the general direction of where the fruit had been thrown and found the culprit: a darkly dress guard that was clearly an over glorified thug. The man, along with his taller comrade, was smiling wickedly as he pointed at the 'King of Fools' and said, loudly, "Now _that's_ ugly!"

From there, it just escalated quickly, with more thugs throwing more vegetables, fruit, and other things, while Quasimodo slipped and was swiftly bound up despite his massive strength that allowed him to throw several people off of him. The terror was plainly written on his face as the people jeered and laughed at him, while him being spun around on the rotating platform.

"Master! Master, please, help me!" Quaismodo cried out, his voice pleading to the darkly dressed public official, who scowled quite a bit before looking away. It was plain he wasn't going to help out, for his own reasons unknown to Aqua. That was Frollo!? That man with such a foul heart was Quasimodo's Master?! Aqua felt her blood boil at this transaction between Frollo and Quasimodo. No good man, no adoptive father with a heart, would allow this to happen to someone they loved!

Aqua pushed her way through the crowd, getting jeering crowd member out of her way with more than enough force to throw them onto their backs or sides, anger coursing through her veins as she gathered up her voice and screamed, angrily and with authority she didn't even think she could accomplished, " _STOP IT!"_

As she did this, causing the crowd to stop with their actions, looking at her with wide eyes and open mouths, Frollo and the captain next to him watch Aqua with wide eyes, while Frollo shifted his attention to Esmeralda as she got up onto stage where the bound, deformed man lay helpless. He was covered in fruit, his clothing torn and ruined, and tears swimming in his eyes at the hurt and emotional pain he was experiencing.

Esmeralda's expression was one of pity and remorse as she reached Quasimodo, crouching down slowly and reached out to him. Quasimodo flinched, expecting her to strike him, but was surprised as she said, softly, "Don't be afraid. I'm sorry…" She paused a bit as she began to try and clean his face off. "This wasn't supposed to happen…"

Aqua was just as fast to arrive onto the scene, leaping up and onto the platform effortlessly. She looked at the scene before her with lingering feelings of anger at the crowd and herself for encouraging Quasimodo, as well as a scene of respect for Esmeralda as the woman also stood up to this cruelty. Moving over to Quasimodo, Aqua felt like she might cry as she also said, "I'm so sorry, Quasimodo. I didn't expect this to happen to you…I didn't mean for you to get hurt…"

"It's…ok…" Quasimodo murmured softly, not holding a grudge against Aqua.

"You two! Gypsy girls! Get down at once!" Frollo commanded to Aqua and Esmeralda, causing Aqua and the raven haired woman to snap their attention to him. Aqua felt her hands clench into fists as she turned to fully face Frollo, while Esmeralda replied, "Yes, your honor! Just as soon as I free this poor creature."

"I forbid it!" Frollo snarled back, expression growing darker by the moment. Aqua's eyes narrowed at the growing amount of darkness that seemed to infect the man's heart, making her finally snap. Aqua usually respect authority, but only when it was vested in a person worth of its power. No one who used it for their own needs and stood by when innocent people were being harmed!

"Shut up! I won't let you stand there and allow this to happen!" Aqua yelled at Frollo, making Esmeralda smirk at the blue haired woman's gutsiness, using this moment to pull out a knife and cut the ropes away from Quasimodo, freeing him. This, along with Aqua's declaration for Frollo's silence, caused the crowd the gasp in shock. Aqua also caught the golden knight trying not to laugh at Frollo's flabbergasted expression.

Shakily, Frollo's extended his arm, pointing at Esmeralda and Aqua, hissing lowly, _"How_ dare you two defy me!"

Esmeralda spoke this time, returning her hidden knife to its sheath, replying, "You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people! You speak of justice." There was a slight pause as Esmeralda gestured to Quasimodo as he looked down at the platform in same. "…yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!"

"Silence!" Frollo commanded as he threw his hands out to his side, eyes wide with rage and fury, entire body shaking. He was not going to tolerate these pathetic, vile gypsy women to defy him openly.

"No, you be silent!" Aqua replied as she threw her right arm out to her side before pointing it at Frollo shakily. Frollo's darkness laced eyes landed on Aqua, lips curling into a disgusted sneer as Aqua berated the Minister of Justice. "What as this man done to you but be loyal and believe your every whim!? What have the gypsies done to you other than be different from you!? A man like you isn't a man worth respecting…and, I believe, we crowned the wrong King of Fools!"

As Frollo snarled with rage, commanding his men to arrest both Aqua and Esmeralda, the bluenette looked to Esmeralda and asked, "Can you get yourself and Quasimodo out of here?"

Esmeralda began to help Quasimodo to his feet, nodding as she said, "Absolutely, but what about you?" She seemed concerned for this mysterious blue haired woman who seemed to known Quasimodo personally. How could see fight off the approaching guards?

Aqua smiled, noticing the concern, remarking, "Don't worry about me. I have my ways of dealing with these goons." She could handle these undertrained enemies without her Keyblade, which would allow her to reveal less and less of herself, if she could.

However, she was going to have much bigger problems as the goons never reached her and her friends. Instead, the Unversed elected to make their presence known. Dozens of Floods, Show Gazers, several Bruisers, and a new monster in the shape of a bright red pot of sorts that floated in the air appeared around her. Aqua's eyes widened as the crowd screamed in terror at the sudden appearance of a huge group of the 'demons.'

As people began to flee, Esmeralda took advantage of this sudden surge of panic to heft the deformed man up, running off while the goons and the golden knight were forced to assist panicking people and Frollo. Aqua had to summon her weapon as well as the Unversed immediately began to focus on her.

As Aqua went into battle again with a mighty battle cry, she hoped that Quasimodo and Esmeralda were safe.

* * *

It took Aqua roughly an hour minutes to kill off all the Unversed and the several waves of reinforcements she had been forced to deal with. They had drove her some distance away from Notre Dame with their sheer numbers, after which she found her earlier suspicions confirmed. Those earlier monsters had been a testing of the waters because the next group of much stronger and tougher, like someone had unleashed much stronger versions of the beasts she had fought earlier. Aqua knew that someone or multiple people were likely controlling the Unversed. That or they monsters could draw off of the darkness in the air. Either way, it didn't bode well for the people who had to face them.

Dark clouds had also rolled over the city, making the sunlight disappear, making the city darker and bleaker than ever. It wasn't black like night, but it was unnerving that it was as dark as it was during day time.

So, as Aqua headed back to the church with a lot of pep to her step, her mind was abuzz with thoughts. Where had these Unversed come from? It seemed like they had simply appeared out of nowhere, something Aqua found rather suspect. An entire race of monsters doesn't just appear out of nowhere without some sort of reasoning behind it, where by design or not. And if someone had deliberately released them into the worlds, what was the reason behind it?

The Keyblade master felt like someone was controlling the monsters because they had attacked so suddenly, almost by order. Unless the monsters had some sort of hive mind intelligence, it seemed rather difficult to believe the monsters had planned their attacks so well.

Aqua felt herself frown slightly as she saw the church at the end of the street she was running down, slowing her run to a jog. More questions were being generated and none of them seemed to have a satisfactory answer.

As Aqua entered the courtyard before Notre Dame, Aqua felt the darkness—the massive blimp from before!—suddenly reveal itself to her, although she still couldn't pinpoint it directly thanks to the darkness blanketing the area. Still, the being in question was close by! Clearly, they had the ability to repress their power, which meant…

Did that mean they, whoever it was, know about her gift? Had they encountered others with her ability before? Aqua scowled a bit as she slowed down once again, eyes warily looking about to spot whatever was stalking her. To her left, right, behind her, above her, Aqua looked.

As she reached the massive doors of Notre Dame, one of them opened up. The darkness behind that door was far too strong; whoever was there, they were clearly the source of the huge mass of darkness. It was like the person was composed entirely of darkness. There wasn't a speck of light within them. Aqua immediately came to a stop to see who was coming out. Whatever she was expecting, she sure wasn't expecting what she saw.

Whoever it was, they were what Aqua envisioned to be the embodiment of darkness. He was shorter than her, but he was muscular and strongly built under that suit of inky blackness. His face was hidden by a black mask that Aqua couldn't see into. He took steps with purpose and pride, the dark being coming to a halt roughly twenty feet from Aqua. He regarded her in manner that Aqua did _not_ like. It was too…personal.

Vanitas, however, had to still himself from trying to lunge at her or to try and convince her she was on the wrong side. Someone as strong as her should be a true Master, after all. He had seen and _felt_ how she had mercilessly cut down his Unversed, even the beefed up ones he had sent at her earlier. He hated being so close to his future partner, but he had appearances to keep up for now.

Quickly, Aqua summoned Stormfall, ready to engage in a possible fight. She glared heatedly at the masked boy, asking, "Who are you?"

Vanitas wagged his finger as a response, replying, "Ah, ah, you're not the one who gets to ask questions here, Aqua." His voice was deep enough that it had this husky tone to it naturally, making Aqua's eyes widened when he said her name, a look he enjoyed as he stared at her blue eyes. That was really creepy in her book. How had he known her name!?

"How is the world did you know my name?" Aqua asked in a low tone, not letting him getting her composure undone by his knowledge of her name. She remained defensive as he chuckled darkly at her. She didn't give a damn if she had asked another question. She wasn't in the business of capitulating to the demands of the dark.

"Man, are you deaf? I told you I was askin' the question, Aqua," he taunted with a mocking tone to her, still trying to get under her skill. Secretly, he was pleased with her ability to remain composed so closed to his darkness. She was so strong, so perfect for him. "Did you enjoy making new friends? That deformed freak and whore?"

Aqua retorted swiftly, "He might be deformed on the outside, but he's not within. The only deformed freak here is you! You haven't an ounce of goodness within you."

Vanitas felt his right eye twitch as the bluenette not only deflected his jab at her recent friendships, but returned a broadside of an insult to him. He had to admit she had a witty tongue, alright. "Oh, you wound me. But speaking of wounded, I imagine your new friends won't have to worry about that soon."

Aqua blinked a few times. What was this guy talking about? He clearly knew a lot of things he wasn't going to tell her, but he was definitely hinting about that something was about to happen to Quasimodo and Esmeralda! "You better start talking. Where is Quasimodo and Esmeralda!?" Aqua demanded right away.

"Oh, they're close by, at the cemetery. You that stupid armored knight defied his boss? Tried to defend those two? Now, he's gonna be joining them on the edge of the abyss…" Vanitas mused as he stroked his 'chin' of his helmet, almost like he was mulling over their situation out loud. "Well, at least they're at the cemetery. Makes for a quicker clean up, although I don't think there will be much left if they burn alive."

Aqua's expression had become quite horrified once again, causing Vanitas to regard her curiously before asking, "Oh, did I say too much? Damn! And here I was hoping to lead you on some more."

"Get out of my way!" Aqua immediate said, moving fast enough that she leveled her left hand at him, a blob of white light erupting from her outstretched arm as a Holy spell was sent at Vanitas. The dark being was quick to avoid it be leaping to the left in a blur of motion, laughing madly all the while. The Holy struck the ground where Vanitas had been, erupting in bright white light. The light faded away quickly, revealing Vanitas was gone.

For now, Aqua was sure. She'd be seeing that guy again, she was absolutely certain of that.

But, right now, Aqua had to move!

* * *

' _So, this is how it ends…?'_ Quasimodo thought bitterly as his Master stood before him, Esmeralda, and Phoebus, the captain of the guard who had heroically fought to help him and Esmeralda, but had be overwhelmed too, being knocked unconscious. Now, the three of them were bound to wooden poles, Frollo smirking darkly as he watched is men stack bundles of sticks around all of them. They had all been captured at the Court of Miracles. Upon their capture, they had been brought up above by Frollo's men to the cemetery to be executed for their various invented crimes.

His Master had gone mad. Aqua had been right. His Master was a dark man who only craved to destroy anything that he deemed evil, but he was blind to his own evil. And now, he was going to destroy someone he had been claiming to protect. But that, too, was a lie! He had lied about the gypsies. He had lied about everything!

"All of your times have come. You all stand on the brink of the abyss! But, even now…" Frollo said darkly as she grabbed a torch of crackling flames. He advanced onto the three of them, wild looking eyes darting to each of them, before settling one Esmeralda. "It is not yet too late for you."

Looking to Esmeralda, Frollo smirked and said lowly, "I can save you from the flames of this world and the next. Choose me or the fire." His expression morphed to a murderous one, warning the gypsy of her fate should she elect to pick the flames.

Instead, she spat into his face. Frollo recoiled from the action, staring back at her afterwards while using the back of his hand to clean off his face. She had rejected him! That foul woman dared to reject him!? He controlled his anger long enough to open his mouth to speak again, saying, "Then it is time to send you back to the depths of Hell were you _belong_ , Esmeralda!"

" _NO!_ You can't do this and get away with it, Frollo!" Quasimodo snarled with anger, which earned him a glance with contempt from Frollo as the deformed man yelled, "All my life, you've told me the world was a dark, cruel place! But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you!"

"Oh, my dear boy…" Frollo began in a mocking tone as he began to lower the fire down to burn Esmeralda alive.  
"You really have learned nothing."

Time seemed to slow down as Frollo prepared to destroy the object of his lusting desires, as well as finish something he had started twenty years ago. Horror developed on Quasimodo's face as couldn't do anything but watch, limbs bound as they were.

Instead, there was a crunch as Aqua's Keyblade smashed into Frollo's face, shock and pain blooming on the old man's as he tossed away, Aqua landing near Esmeralda. Frollo crumpled onto the grassy ground several feet away, barely conscious from being hit by Aqua's attack. He was bleeding badly from his broken jaw, a dazed look on his face.

"Aqua!" Quasimodo said, surprised and relieved that the woman had found them on time. Esmeralda was just a relieved, a smile coming to her face as Aqua moved over to the tri, her body surrounded with raw magic.

Aqua didn't waste any time as she swiftly freed her friends, magic crackling around her slender form, daring any of those thugs to come at her. None of them seemed particularly brave, backing away from the very angry Aqua.

Soon, her friends were freed. Aqua turned to look at Frollo as he slowly staggered to his feet, clutching at his jaw. He spotted Aqua, expression hardening to hatred as he hissed through the pain, "You witch…how dare you stop me from delivering justice!" Aqua figured he must have a huge pain threshold to talk with a broken jaw. She was just as surprised he wasn't unconscious from her blow. She hadn't hit him as hard as she could, but she had swung pretty hard!

"Justice? I don't call murder justice. What you're doing is disgusting," Aqua retorted coolly as she stared down the enraged Frollo, the man shaking with rage as blood gushed from his wound. "If anything, the only person who needed to be dealt justice is you."

"Me?! You are a foul witch who is a devil spawn! My actions are sanctioned by God himself!" Frollo snarled as his emotion over took him and he gave himself over the darkness within. His body suddenly became surrounded by darkness, tendrils of blackness rolling off of him, eyes starting to flicker to a sickly yellow color. Esmeralda, while cradling the unconscious Phoebus, stared in horror as something she had never seen in her entire life happened to Frollo.

Quasimodo was also just as horrified by just how dark and twisted his Master had become. He was well past the point of former Master now, becoming a real life monster. He scarcely noticed Frollo's thugs fleeing the rapidly insane, darkness bathed Minster of Justice.

Aqua sent Follo over the edge to his own abyss when she responded, "I hate to twist your mind, but God isn't on your side. No one is. You're alone; a sad, little man with a dark heart."

Frollo's eyes turned totally yellow as he roared to the heavens, darkness exploding around him into a pillar that obscured him from view. Fierce winds tore at Aqua and her friends, wipping their clothing and hair around wildly as the darkness within Frollo was turning him into something… _vile_. Aqua could sense it and it prompted her to order them, "All of you, get out of here! I promise, I won't let Frollo hurt anyone else!"

Soon, Aqua could no longer hear her friends retreating footsteps as he ran, knowing whatever was about to happen was well beyond their abilities to handle. Aqua, their new friend, would protect them. They had to believe in her.

As the cemetery became silent again, the wind dying around the tombstones and crypts, Aqua found herself staring at something she knew was a being of darkness, but not that of the Unversed. Frollo was no longer the Minster of Justice; he was something different altogether. He was the Minster of Darkness.

The monster before her floated s few inches off of the ground, an eerie blue light behind it. The clothing it wore was stripped in black and dark blue, the monster wearing a tunic with puffy shoulders, and pants that had armored boots. It had glowing yellow eyes, black skin, and a permanent grin on its face, one of malevolent glee. It had a row of six spike jutting out of the top of its forearms, while its left hand carried a scepter with a sparking red gem at the tip.

The monster attempted to speak, its mouth opening up a small amount, letting out something that could be described as garbled noise. _**"Dna llhas eh emits het dewikc nda lpugen mthe otni the yfier tip!"**_

Aqua didn't waste any time messing around with the monster, shifting into a combat stance as the monster attacked first, unleashing a stream of blue flames from its right hand. The beam of flames was greeted by Aqua's Barrier spell, the flames washing over the translucent dome as Aqua held up her left hand, legs spread slightly.

Soon, the attack was over, allowing Aqua to counter attack with her own magic. She started off with a non-fire related spell as she closed the distance with the Minister of Darkness, left hand unleashing a Blizzaga at the creature. The Minster darted to the left as the chunk of chilly blueish ice flew past it, only to receive several powerful Keyblade strikes to its stomach and chest, making it scream in agony. The beast teleported away before Aqua could land her fifth blow, appearing above Aqua.

' _Damn!'_ Aqua thought as the monster fired off a wave of eight balls of darkness, all of which flew at Aqua in a single volley, coming at a speed that didn't give Aqua time to deploy her defenses. The bluenette cartwheeled away from a few orbs, all of which struck the ground with a bang or hit tombstones, sending stones clattering against other tombstones as they exploded.

One attack struck Aqua in her back, exploding with enough force that she was thrown face first into the ground with a cry of pain. That had hurt quite a bit, waves of pain rolling up Aqua's back, but she was already rolling away from the monster's diving attack. Its scepter impaled the ground where Aqua had been moments ago, but it went far enough into the ground that the Minster of Darkness struggled to wrench it free.

As a result, Aqua was able to strike it with a Holy spell into its exposed left side, creating an explosion that bathe the area and monster in white light, one that made the creature scream in agony, the monster staggering back several feet as sparks of white embers feel off of its body. Aqua attacked it while it was stunned, landing several more Keyblade strikes on its form, but she over stayed her welcome, the monster recovering enough to smack her face with its scepter, making her head snap to the side, spit flying from her mouth.

A Firaga spell from the Minster's right hand nearly struck Aqua's chest, the woman ducked instead, feeling the heat of the attack as it passed over the back of her head. Aqua rolled forward to avoid a spray of hellfire from the monster's mouth, the flames hitting the ground and scorching it, burning away the grass completely.

Pivoting quickly, another spell struck the Minster's back in the form of a Thundaga, yellow lightning striking the monster. Sparks of yellow arched off of the monsters as it staggered forward, nearly dropping its scepter, showing signs of already getting weaker from Aqua's high level magic. It was clear that her Holy spell had badly damaged it.

The monster snarled at unleashed another barrage of those darkness orbs, ten this time, all of which were avoided by Aqua's darting and cartwheeling, the Keyblade Master closing the distance. The monster swung its scepter at her in a downward arc, but Aqua stopped before the attack would have connected, allowing it to strike the ground before leaping over the monster. As she passed over, another Holy spell impacted the Minster's head, making another powerful explosion that made the monster scream in a mixture of rage and pain.

Aqua landed behind the Minster of Darkness, rushing at its smoking form in an attempt to polish off the badly damaged monster.

However, the monster wasn't giving up, swinging around and using a spell she wasn't expecting: Ultima. The massive orb swelled up before Aqua, making her eyes widened as a result. She barely had time to react as it discharged at her, filling her vision as it lumbered forward at an impressive speed.

There was a titanic explosion as the Ultima detonated, sending a mushroom cloud into the sky. The explosion brightened the sky and city for a moment. Bits of the ground, tombstones, bones from the uprooted dead, and even entire crypts began to fall from the sky due to the sheer power of the Ultima the Minster of Darkness had released. It had put all its power into that attack, after all, desperate to kill Aqua.

The exhausted creature stared at the huge, thirty foot, smoking hole in the ground its Ultima spell had made. The smoke of the Ultima drifted through the air slowly, caught by the gentle winds.

However, Aqua had survived the attack, but the Minster never saw the attack coming. Through the smoke came Aqua's Keyblade wreathed in ice, striking the Minster's neck and cutting the monster's head off. Its headless body twitched a few times as the head of the beast hit the ground. Soon, it turned into tendrils of darkness as it died, Aqua walking through the smoke to catch her Keyblade as it flew back to her. She was damaged, blood dripping from her left shoulder and left arm hanging limply from the damaged she had taken.

The bluenette watched as the monster Frollo had become fade away, saying, sadly, "You should've know this was the price of evil, Frollo."

And with that, a Curaga later, Aqua walked away from the dying embers of darkness that had been Claude Frollo.

* * *

 **Well, that was chapter eight! For anyone wondering, yes, Frollo turned into a Heartless, not an Unversed. It looks like his hatred finally overtook him completely and become a demon in his own way. Maybe someone can figure out what he said?**

 **I hope you all also enjoyed the interaction between all the characters! Aqua and Vanitas finally ran into one another, something he's been wanting to do!**

 **I really enjoyed this chapter and I thank you all for you continued support for this story!**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine: Operation Groundshaker**_

' _The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.'—Hubert H. Humphrey_

Landing on this world was… _different,_ to say the least. Most of the time, Aqua would glide down through the atmosphere, staying at a great enough height to avoid being spotted and also to locate a place to land. She could enjoy a fly through the clouds as she arrived, allowing herself to completely clear her mind of anything that might be a lingering distraction.

But this place was nothing like that. The moment she had gotten near, the planet had yanked her in, causing her to squeak in surprise as she was pulled off of her Glider. As the Glider disappeared into particles of light, Aqua found she was falling down a tunnel, with a bright white orb at either end of it. She did her best to control her freefall, as she was unable to escape from the planet's grasp.

Her landing was as graceful as one could be from being so suddenly pulled down a dark tunnel, unsure of where you'd end up. The bluenette exited the end of the tunnel, appearing only twenty feet above a canopy of blue leaved trees. Aqua gritted her teeth upon realizing she would crash through the trees if she didn't immediately act; instincts kicked in now.

Correcting her freefall and using her air magic to rapidly slow her descent, the magic created a cushion of air below her. Sufficiently slowed, Aqua passed between two particularly tall trees, landing with a click on a cobblestone pathway. Moments later, her armor burst into a white hue before it faded away, revealing an unarmored Aqua.

Letting out a breath she had been holding in, Aqua began observe her surroundings, noticing the darkness that seemed to hang in the air once again, much like the world she had been to prior. It wasn't as terrible as Notre Dame was, but it was still enough to let her know the Unversed had come to this world as well. This world was not a sprawling city like Notre Dame either, but full of trees that had blue leaves, flowery bushes of all colors and shapes, and lush green grass. Birds chirped around her, echoing their songs back and forth to one another. Overall, there was a strange peace about this place.

But peace could easily be shattered; in the same token, it could also be false. Which would it be here?

" _Look at the blue haired girl…she's new, she's new!"_ came the sing song voice from one of the larger flowers on her right, making her look over at it with an expression of surprise and worry. She had heard the plants _talking._

She could hear another plant talking about her clothing attire and how it make her look good, making her cheeks start to change to a ruby color. Alright, talking plants that were gleefully conversing about her _'attractive physical attributes'_ was where Aqua drew the line. Aqua felt like it was time to quickly get going.

Aqua was standing upon a cobblestone path that surely led somewhere, although where was the million dollar question. It was an irregularly shaped path that twisted and turned several times before banking hard to the right in the distance, roughly two hundred yards away. Giving the area another look over after calming herself down, Aqua pressed forward down that path…

Only for several Floods to materialize out of the ground around her, making a semi-circle before her. The bluenette immediately summoned Stormfall, a scowl coming to her face. Was there not a world they hadn't found?

They might have found this world, but Aqua was in the business of making them leave.

After another brawl with the hordes of Unversed, Aqua had managed to clear everything out of her way as she made progress down the cobblestone pathway. It had taken over twenty minutes to clear out even that group and they had been noticeably stronger than the Unversed she had dealt with on Notre Dame. For some reason, Aqua felt like the Unversed and the masked boy had some sort of connection. What that connection might be was up to speculation; even a connection was working theory that could be wrong. For all she knew, the masked figure was merely taking advantage of the chaos the Unversed were creating to further his own agenda.

Pushing those thoughts away from her for now until she had accumulated a bit more evidence, Aqua reached the banking right from earlier, rounding the corner of the stone pathway. As she accomplished this action, the Keyblade bearer came to a total halt so she could inspect the scene ahead of her. She hadn't run into more monsters, otherwise Stormfall would already be out again.

No, she was just certain the middle of a forest was a bizarre place to have a tea party. She knew there wasn't any noticeable civilization around her; she had seen that as she had fallen! But then again, this world was pretty strange as it was. She might as well expect the out of the ordinary here!

The area before her was shaded extensively by trees, with a solid ring of hedgerows around the neatly trimmed grass. There were flowers of all shapes and sizes on the hedgerows, giving this place an undeniable air of color and happiness. In the center of this clearing upon a stone patio was a long formal dining table that could seat eighteen people. It was covered in a white cloth, with different sized and shaped chairs around it. Scattered haphazardly on the table were various plates, tea cups, pots, and even a few cookie jars. Most noticeable, however, the table itself was also occupied.

There was an older looking man wearing a light green top hat that had a dark green band around it, just above the brim. There was a patch on it that had the fraction 10/6. He had a large nose and tuffs of grey hair coming out from under his hat. He had a yellow coat over a green vest and pants; even his shoes were green! A blue bowtie completed the man's attire. Currently, he was pouring steaming hot tea down his neck and out of his left arm sleeve into a yellow cup, causing Aqua to stare blankly before shifting her eyes to the other creature with the odd man.

Clapping his hands at the man's antics was a brown furred hare with a reddish brown nose and blonde colored hair upon the top of his head. He wore a red button up vest, along with brown slacks and reddish brown shoes. He gleefully took the cup of tea from the man, bringing it too his lips and slurping down the still steaming tea.

' _Well, here goes nothing. Maybe they have seen the boy in the mask?'_ Aqua thought as she started back down the cobblestone pathway towards the two partygoers. As she got closer to them, the man spotted her first, smiling brightly as he sprung from his seat onto the table with a bang, making all the tableware clatter loudly. Aqua was taken aback slightly from the man's vigorous reaction to seeing her, but she pressed forward.

"Oh, look at this! An uninvited guest! Splendid, splendid!" the Mad Hatter said with a rapid clap of his hands, excited that an _uninvited_ guest had come to the tea party. The March Hare also seemed thrilled at Aqua's arrival, twirling a cup on his left index finger as he also came to his feet. This cup, Aqua noted, was sliced in half vertically.

"I apologize for interrupting your party, sir, but I just wanted to ask some questions. Then I'll leave, I promise," Aqua replied to the man, hoping she hadn't upset him and he was just covering his anger with a blanket of acting. She couldn't possibly be any further from the truth here.

"Interrupting? Apologize? Nonsense!" the March Hare said excitedly as he began to pour another cup of tea, but this time, he poured it into the sliced cup, the liquid actually staying within the cup! Aqua was definitely surprised by how this place was behaving, but she had no time to think about this world's oddities. The hare was pushing the cup of tea into her hands, going, "Have a cup of tea! It's just half a cup, but you look like you could use some!"

"T-That's nice of you, but—" the bluenette responded before being interrupted by the Mad Hatter, who moved behind her and pushed her over to a chair, while the March Hare pulled it out. Aqua, not wanting to fight back and accidently hurt the man, allowed the Mad Hatter to seat her. She was placed in a plush velvet seat, which she did admit was comfortable.

"Now, now, questions, you had questions! Please, ask away, we surely would know!" the Mad Hatter exclaimed with a goofy grin as he leaped back over to his chair, landing in it before plopping down into a seated position.

Without taking a drink of her tea—honestly, she didn't know what was in it—Aqua smiled a bit and asked, "Have you seen a dark figure in a masked helmet? A boy in a mask?"

"We've seen figures in masks and mask-like figures, yes, yes!" the March Hare said excitedly, although Aqua was nobody's fool: she could tell via the uncertainty in the Hare's eyes that he hadn't seen the boy in the mask she had encountered on Notre Dame. He had likely run into Unversed, but aside from that, he wasn't going to provide any leads for Aqua.

"We've seen the Queen of Hearts too; she counts, wearing her mask of royalty over the face of anger!" the Mad Hatter said with a giggle, like a school girl who had just given away a dirty secret. Aqua elected to remember these words from the Mad Hatter, as they could be an indication of this Queen of Hearts.

Still, none of their information was of assistance in Aqua's hunt for the boy in the mask.

"I see. Thank you for all of your help then, but I must be going. I can deal with the monsters that are plaguing your world," Aqua offered as she pushed her seat back, rising to her feet. She knew the longer she stayed idle, the longer the Unversed had to cause harm to this world's natives.

Before she could depart, the Mad Hatter had a final surprise in store of the bluenette.

"Those monsters make terrible party guests, but you, on the other hand, are a great one!" the Mad Hatter said with a chuckle as he reached into one of the cookie jars to his left, pulling out a cookie. He tossed it at Aqua immediately, who caught it with her right hand. The Keyblade bearer looked at the small cookie, which was emblazoned with the words "Eat Me!" The cookie was covered in light blue frosting, while the words were a deeper shade of blue. Aqua eyed the object with some suspicion, her reservations rather understandable.

"Thank you, sir, but what is this for? Is it a going away gift?" Aqua joked with a small grin as she pocketed the cookie in one of the small pouches she had hidden under her sashes. She would keep it, although she really had no inclination to eat it. Who knew what it could do to her? And while these two seemed nice, that didn't mean they couldn't be hiding an agenda.

"Oh yes, that it is! But it's a gift to be used later, for when Alice is in danger!" the March Hare replied with a joyful laugh before he simply just vanished. Aqua's eyes widened in shock, but when she went to look for the other brightly clothed gentleman, he was also simply _gone._ They had disappeared when she had blinked her eyes!

Although they were gone, Aqua knew the two gentlemen had clearly warned her that this Alice was in danger. And while Aqua might have never met Alice before, it was her duty to defend those in danger.

' _Alice…'_ Aqua thought worriedly before she did an about-face and rushed to leave the tea party area.

* * *

' _What have I done?'_

That thought seemed to endlessly loop in Terra's dulled mind as he slowly walked through an unfamiliar forest of giant yellow and pink flowers. The oddity of giant flowers, which would normally tickle Terra's curiosity, was not enough to get much of a reaction from the brunette today. He merely gave them a passing glance occasionally as he travelled slowly onward, but aimlessly at that.

How could Terra enjoy any sights of the worlds he had visited after how his journey had started off?

He might have been able to work over the negative feelings he was experiencing after his failure at the Mark of Mastery and how he last moments with Aqua before they had both departed had been less than stellar _—'As usual, you idiot'_ his conscious chided him—if given the time, but it was what had happened at the very first world he had visited that compounded his feelings into a snowball of epic proportions.

His chest constricted painfully as he remember the fateful moment when he had been used to take a completely innocent woman's heart. Not just that, but she was a Prince of Heart, which made it hurt all the more. Terra was supposed to be her protector; instead, he had become the puppet that had brought ruination to her with the very weapon he meant to use to defeat the Unversed and other enemies with.

' _Hmm...for a peacekeeper, you're off to an exceptionally poor start…'_

That damned fairy's voice. That horrible person who had tricked him and guided him along for her own needs like he was a simple child! And he had fallen for her words so easily. It was beyond pathetic. He knew better than to be so trusting, but he had gone against his gut instincts. He had wanted to give the dark fairy a chance to prove that she wasn't a bad person.

So much for giving chances out.

Pausing, Terra lowered his head as he leaned up against a giant flower. He felt like he was going to be sick. The aspiring Keyblade Master had tried to work over the hump he was end, but all it seemed to do was dig him deeper into the hole of despair in his heart. His mind asked him questions that he was afraid to answer now.

How could he face Ventus after knowing he had done such a terrible deed, even if unwillingly? The blonde was his little brother; he looked up to him so much, but Terra wasn't feeling like the big brother Ventus could aspire to.

Then there was Master Eraqus. The wise man had trusted him to do his best to help those who couldn't protect themselves from the forces of evil. He had believed in him enough that he had felt like Terra deserved to be a Master. And here Terra was, shaming that trust and putting a dirty stain on his Master's name.

Terra was working to not cry now, least he look even more pathetic than his imagine surely projected right now. But his mind, as if to force the tears to start falling, directed his thoughts to someone he had been trying _not_ to think about.

The train arrived at station Aqua, the bluenette he had such great feelings for. He had hurt her willingly out of spite because she had passed when he had faltered. He gave her a cold shoulder and a stern expression. And then he had committed such a grievous offense, something she would never do. _Ever_. What would she do when she learned what he had accomplished?

A mockery of their teachings, that's what.

The grass under Terra's muscular form was getting a salty drink tonight as Terra's tears silently ran down his face and to the lush grass and fertile ground below.

"Damn it…just damn it all," Terra muttered dejectedly as he tried to wipe his tears from his face with sleeve.

As Terra's mind was being taxed with thoughts of the past, someone didn't appreciate the salty water it was being given. Terra's situational awareness was down, so the brunette failed to notice the giant blue colored snapdragon he was leaning against shuddered a bit before the giant flower seemed to yawn and then blink, turning its colorful head back and forth as it searched for the source of the very foul tasting water.

Eventually, it looked down at Terra, blinking a few more times at the sight of the strange, mobile 'weed' at its base. Quickly getting over its confusion, the fiery temper of the snapdragon flared as it growled, "Are you done weeping down there, you damn weed?"

Terra immediately jumped in shock from the low toned voice, leaping away from the grumpy flower, eyes wide as he looked at the scowling, colorful face of the enormous plant. Scrambling to collect himself, Terra scowled back with equal intensity as he replied, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize your attitude exceeded your colors."

The flower recoiled before creating what looked like a smirk on its face, retorting, "Mouthy little bugger, ain't cha? But at least I'm not the one blubbering over something. If you're still mostly intact from what ruined your day, then you were meant to survive and learn from bit." The flower crossed a pair of its leaves over one another, leaning back haughtily as it concluded, "So stop your cryin' and carry on. Least the monsters kill you while you can't see from your blurry eyes."

Terra would have likely replied to the flower's incredibly aggravating voice and attitude with a vicious retort, but when the snapdragon spoke about monsters—Unversed, Terra assumed—any attempt to issue a witty remark died on the tip of Terra's tongue as he inquired, "Monsters?"

"So why don't you get a pair of bulbs and—oh, uh…yes. Monsters, why do you ask?" the mouthy flower asked as it looked back down on the weed before it, anger deflated suddenly by the inquiry. What rock did this weed live under to not know the forest was full of darkspawn that seemed to phantom in and out of existence and attacked the Queen of Heart's Card Soldiers?

"I'm asking," the Keyblade bearer began in a slightly exasperated tone as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Because I can kill them for you."

"Ha! Well, it seems you got some bulbs after all. It seems like a fruitless mission, cuz if the Card Soldiers die to those things, what chance do you stand?" the snapdragon asked in a mocking tone before it gestured around it. "Have it then and cheerio, but do not cry if none come to save you from the cold hand of death."

Terra watched the flower seemingly go back to sleep, but he could feel his hands clench into fists as he thought, _'Screw you you talking pile of mulch. I'm not going to die here.'_ He might have been a failure, but he was still going to give it his all. It was time to stop mopping, pick himself up, and keep fighting.

With that, Terra turned to walk away from the flower, getting some distance away before he stumbled onto a very fine way to vent his frustrations. As he walked through some tall grass, pushing it out of his way, Terra came face to face with an Unversed, but this one was nothing like the Unversed he had seen before. It was much more unique than the Floods, Foot Soldiers, or Bruisers thus far.

The creature before him was quite large; being roughly thirty feet in height, but its body was that of a plant: thin and sporting a dark green, central stalk that branched off into two arms. The arms ended with robust, heart shaped mouths with red centers, while the head was a white flower with five petals. Its face gave off the distinct impression it was quite sad, glowing red eyes boring into Terra's cobalt ones. The creature's trap-like hands snapped shut a few times, like it was warning Terra it was dangerous if he got too close.

Terra was quick to summon his weapon, Ends of the Earth, with a flash of digital light, shifting into a combat stance, legs spread for a balanced stance. He was not afraid of some overgrown plant! He stood before the beast, ready to engage it on a moment's notice, before it seemed to understand Terra wasn't going to run away and give it an easy kill.

Terra let out a fierce cry as he launched himself at the monster before him, who let out a shrill cackle, both of it mouthed hands shooting forward at Terra. It seemed liked the attacks from the monster would smash into the brunette, but instead of hitting Terra, the brunette stopped, allowing the traps to careen into the solid ground with a earth shattering bang. The teeth of the traps dug deeply into the ground, resulting in them getting stuck. The creature struggled to pull them free.

Terra was quick to leap up and onto the long, extending limbs of the beast, rushing up the left one in no time. Before the monster could react, Terra's Keyblade was smashed into its face, one, two, three times. It's face snapped three different directions with each successive blow, but Terra's attacking was cut short when it shot a green liquid from its mouth. Terra leapt off of his perch back to the ground, catching the liquid melting the ground it had struck from his peripheral vision.

' _That stuff is potent!'_ Terra thought as he quickly avoided a whip-like swing from the Unversed's right arm, darting back from the attack before it could impact with Terra's form. The arm made a sharp crack just like a whip, making Terra wince from the sharp noise as it reached his ears.

Before Terra could counterattack the monster before it, he was rather dumbfounded to find himself sailing upwards and in pain as the roots of the Unversed plant exploded out of the ground, inflicting several blunt blows on Terra's legs and lower back. Terra growled in pain, but quickly stabilized his upward trajectory fast enough to avoid a spray of purple fluid from the monster's maw, by darting to the left. It was likely poison based, but Terra had no desire to find out.

In midair, Terra launched his counterattack by leveling his Keyblade and launching a Firaga at the face on the monster, the smoldering ball of orange lancing out and striking the plant in the face with a bang that creating strong shockwave. The monster screamed in pain with a distorted voice as Terra landed on the ground.

The Unversed recovered quickly from the pain inflicted by the Firaga, lashing out with several swings of its arms, the attacks themselves quite erratic, in addition to being savage. The ground shattered under the blows that went wide as Terra dodged the blows that strayed much too close. The ground had become an area of fractured dirt and bedrock, making it more difficult to find a solid place to stand…

But it also gave Terra many places to launch a single, all-powerful finishing move. He just needed to distract the monster enough to allow him to unleash a Zantetsuken, because judging from the monster's thin body it likely couldn't withstand a direct hit.

As a thick coat of dust gave Terra time to hide behind a larger chunk of rock, the Unversed plant monster seemed confusion by brunette's sudden disappearance in the thick dust cloud around it. It's trap 'hands' snapped open and close rapidly as the flower looked around for Terra, occasionally smashing the ground in an attempt to flush Terra out.

But Terra was not a fool in regards to combat. He had time to plan out a distraction and his distraction presented itself to him in the form of a good sized rock, roughly the size of his head, at his feet. A smile came to his face as his eyes landed on the object, slowly crouching down to pick the rock up with his left hand. Easily picking up the hefty stone with one hand, the brunette then flicked the stone hard enough that it arched up and over the flower monster.

When it landed, it hit hard enough to create a lot of crumbling and cracking sounds as it bounced off of other stones and gravel; it was enough commotion that the Unversed immediately spun around to investigate, leaning over to try and spot what had created such noise.

Without an ounce of hesitation upon seeing his plan was working, Terra scrambled from his hiding place, lining up a clear shot for his assault. Bringing his Ends of the Earth back to his side with two hands, Terra poured a vast amount of energy into the blade of the weapon, making it glow a white color.

In the blink of an eye, Terra moved.

In the same second, the Unversed was quite shocked at its prey appearing below it, back facing it and in a crouching position. But when started to react in order to bring one of its traps down upon the back of Terra, it instead froze mid-motion. It twitched, once, twice, three times, body convulsing violently.

Then, with darkness leaking from its ruptured form, the Unversed came apart into two halves vertically speaking. Terra's attack had been so powerful it had cleaved the body of the Unversed in two, each half falling in opposite directions of one another. They impacted the ground hard, making it shudder violently as the body of Terra's opponent faded into particles of black, purple, and blue.

Standing to his full height again, Terra looked back at the rapidly deteriorating body of the huge Unversed, smirking as he remarked, "I thought this place could use some gardening." He knew what he had said was on the corny side, but he did feel good about taking out that huge plant, as well as venting some of his anger.

But his battle had managed to gather someone's attention.

So, when a voice called out to him, Terra froze in place. He dare not turn to face the owner of the voice. He wasn't sure he could face her yet.

Aqua was calling his name.

"Terra? Terra!"

Eventually, Terra turned around completely to face the bluenette standing roughly twenty feet away from him. She had her hand over her chest as she eyeballed him and the immediate area around him. Terra also glanced around the former battleground and realized that the Unversed plant had made one hell of a mess. It was no small wonder why Aqua was carrying a worried look on her face.

What really surprised Terra was that she was _worried_ about him after the way they had parted last. How did Aqua always seem to find it in her heart to forgive every single transgression from Terra?

His surprised didn't show on his face as he finally smiled weakly and replied, "Aqua…what's up?"

Well, that was an excellent way to greet someone he cared about greatly as Aqua stared at him with a slightly flabbergasted look, clearly quite surprised by the casual greeting from her friend while he stood in a scene of destruction. Terra was just so _smooth._

Aqua managed to chuckle at the casual response of Terra after she got over her surprise, placing both hands on her hips as she chided, "Terra, I was worried about you. I heard the sounds of battle, so I came to investigate." She had heard quite a bit of crashing and a few unearthly screams that immediately drew her attention, causing her to bolt in the direction of the violence. She was quite surprised to find Terra instead, standing so confidently among the ruined ground.

He looked… _good._ But her mind was quick to beat back those strange thoughts and fluttering feelings that briefly swirled into Aqua's chest.

Terra, unaware of Aqua's sudden mental dilemma, understood what she meant. Terra's fight must have stirred up quite a bit of noise; Aqua had always been an alert type of person, so of course she'd go rushing off towards the sounds of battle to see if she could assist someone. Terra found his pride or ego wasn't really bothered by this fact. It was just burnt in Aqua's mind to react like this, much like Terra would react.

"Ah, well…I was just doing some gardening on the Unversed. That plant was really bringing down the beauty of this place," Terra responded as he gestured with his right hand to where the beast had once stood. Aqua followed Terra's gesturing hand to the hole that had been the base of the monster, were roots had once anchored it.

"Gardening, huh? Well, it must have had some serious roots to it, judging from the mess you made by pulling it. You ought to work on your gardening skills so you make less of a mess next time!" Aqua teased with a playful smile, making Terra snort diversely as he looked away, a slight color to his cheeks. Aqua was happy that he was talking to her. She hated when he closed himself up when he was angry with her; it always stung when he bottled up.

Eventually, Terra looked back at Aqua and dared to close the distance between them, easily moving over the shattered ground towards Aqua. By now, he knew he couldn't truly stay mad at Aqua for her success at becoming a Master. Staying away from her wouldn't change the fact he was happy she had succeeded. Once he was an arm's length away, Terra inquired, "Have you gotten leads on Master Xehanort?"

Aside from the Unversed, Terra definitely was worried about Master Xehanort's sudden disappearance. It baffled him actually and Terra definitely had suspicions that the Unversed were connected to Master Xehanort's disappearance.

Aqua felt herself cringe a bit at the mention of the dark Master's name. While she knew his wellbeing was important, she still didn't trust the man. But her duties were to protect anyone who needed it or wanted it; right now, Master Xehanort was under that category.

Shaking her head, Aqua replied, "No, I haven't." She saw Terra's disappointment on his face, briefly wondering why the extra worry for the man, before she continued. "But I did meet a masked figure, a young boy. With how the Unversed so suddenly appeared and coupled with the fact Master Xehanort disappeared at the same time, I feel like the masked boy is connected somehow."

Terra frowned at this news. A boy in a mask? The mystery only seemed to deepen with the appearance of this new player, whoever he was and whatever his agenda was. Aqua clearly seemed unnerved by the masked boy, judging from the way she was currently playing with the hem of her right bell sleeve.

"How do you know he's connected?" Terra inquired of Aqua.

Biting her lip briefly, Aqua answered truthfully. "I don't Terra. But…he's dangerous, Terra, even if he's not connected. He knew my name, which really frightened me."

Terra felt his expression harden. If he hadn't been worried about the masked figure as much as Aqua was, he was completely in agreement with Aqua now. To Terra, it sounded like stalker qualities and he wasn't about to let some two-bit hack try and mess with Aqua! Aqua was too important to him to allow some dark figure to possibly hurt her.

"I see. I'll definitely keep an eye out for him," Terra said with a darker tone that Aqua found herself not liking one bit. It was like her friend had a personal grudge against the masked figure because he had messed with Aqua.

"Terra…" Aqua began before trailing off, not sure what to say back to that. Terra looked at her questioningly, prompting Aqua to look at the ground and mutter, "Nothing. I'm just worried about all of this."

Terra inspected Aqua as both of them went quiet. She definitely seemed worried about everything that had transpired so far in this adventure, if one could call it that. Terra was worried too, but his guilt was still there. His guilt had started to manifest itself again now that Aqua was here, conversing with him. He had his guilt over how he treated her and an even greater guilt from what he had been tricked into doing.

He could feel his sins crawling on his back as the silence between him and Aqua continued.

The silence, coupled with Terra's guilty expression, caused Aqua to eventually look back over at him. Her expression morphed to concern as she asked, softly, "Terra…what's wrong?"

Terra looked up at her, smiling grimly as he said, "It's funny, you know? Here we are, both off to try and protect the worlds. We should both be happy, right?" Terra paused as he took in a deep breath, with Aqua regarding him with a mixture of confusion and increasing worry. "Even happier we're running into one another…but, truth is, I'm not happy because…"

Aqua wisely allowed him to speak, to get off his chest whatever he needed to. The bluenette wanted to move over to him already, give him a hug and tell him it would all turn out ok in the end. No matter what happened that, in the end, they could make it through.

Seeing that Aqua was listening, Terra began his confession. He only hoped that she wouldn't get furious with him.

"I'm sorry I treated you like shit before we left. It wasn't right of me to be like that…" Terra said as he hung his head in shame. He dare not look at her now. "But then, on the first world I visited, I was tricked. I hurt someone…I took the heart of a Princess. A dark fairy put me in some magical sleep. By the time I came too, she…I…"

Aqua felt her eyes widen in bewilderment as she understood what Terra had told her. No wonder Terra looked so _guilty._ If she had been tricked into doing the same thing, she'd likely feel the same guilt and hurt. The disappointment in one's self also had to hurt. She couldn't understand what he was feeling, but she knew one thing: Terra hadn't meant to harm someone. He had been tricked…

"Terra…I forgive you for your rudeness. I know you had to be really upset," Aqua began as she dared to move the final distance between them, cupping Terra's chin in her hand. Moving his head gently so he'd look into her eyes, she smiled kindly as she said, "And you can't be so hard on yourself. What happened, although horrible, was an accident. If you had been acting on your own accord, then I'd be furious with you."

And with that, Aqua hugged Terra firmly, whispering, "I forgive you for everything. We're friends and it's what we do."

Terra was dead silent and in awe at how… _easily_ Aqua had just forgiven him. He was so caught off-guard that it took him several seconds to return the hug—she smelled of lavender today—burying his face into her shoulder as he gave her a silent _Thank you._ He clutched her for a good few seconds, maybe even minutes, before he reluctantly withdrew.

He was smiling now, as was Aqua. Both of them felt considerably better now after the hug, especially Terra. He had been frightened at how Aqua might react to what he had been forced to do, but she had proven his fears unfounded.

Now, Terra was bold enough to suggest something else.

"Aqua…do you want to work together while we're both here on this world? If we team up, I bet we could do much better than left to our own devices," Terra explained to the bluenette with a grin. He really hoped she would accept. It would definitely allow Terra chance to further undo any lasting sentiments of negativity Aqua might be feeling.

Answering with an affirmative nod, Aqua said, "Of course!"

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The Queen will be furious that I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" came the high pitch, tension strung voice of someone close by. It was someone that was on the move, judging from the rapid sound of footfalls.

Both Aqua and Terra wiped around to their left and right respectively, eyes landing on the running form of a white rabbit carrying a large pocket watch, although it looked more like a clock in the rabbit's small hands.

"I wonder if he's a servant of the ruler here?" Terra asked absentmindedly.

"I know what you're thinking. I don't think this Queen of Hearts is all that nice of a person," Aqua responded, trying to persuade Terra to from visiting said Queen.

"Well, she might lead us to something! C'mon, how bad can she be?" Terra said as he started to run after the rabbit before the furry creature disappeared from view.

"Terra, wait—oh, for the love of…" Aqua began before Terra was already on the move. She wondered if Terra thought his plans through at all before he acted. Just as quickly, Aqua bolted after Terra in order to catch up.

' _Maybe Terra's right. Maybe she_ _ **won't**_ _be that bad…'_

* * *

" _ **OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"**_

Aqua and Terra felt like their eardrums might explode between the sounds of chaotic battle and the Queen of Heart's furious screaming. It turns out that going to meet the Queen of Hearts was a bad idea. After convincing the White Rabbit to grant them both an audience with the Queen, she had promptly accused them of inciting rebellion against her kingdom, being the source of the Unversed, and working with Alice.

And trying to defend themselves from the accusations was out of the question too. The Queen would simply talk over them; it was plain as day she wanted to get what she wanted, which was a couple of executions.

Worse, upon ordering her Card Soldiers to attack Aqua and Terra, the Unversed had elected to make their appearance, which created a chaotic three way battle, with Unversed attacking Card Soldiers and vis versa, and Aqua and Terra killing Unversed and knocking out the guards of the Queen.

It was a real mess, to say the least.

A fighting withdraw had quickly been called for, with the two Keyblade bearers summoning their weapons and then fighting their way out of the hedgerow lined courtyard and throne of the Queen of Hearts down a dusty, tree lined pathway. Unversed and Card Soldier's followed them, fighting one another as they vigorously pursued their quarry.

"I _told_ you this was a bad idea!" Aqua scolded Terra as she kicked a Card Soldier into a group of four others, resulting in all of them crashing to the ground with a thump. Smoothly, Aqua transitioned from a kick to a cartwheel as she bounded around a Bruiser and landed a few solid hits that made the beast topple onto and crush a few Floods. Aqua couldn't help but to notice these Unversed, while still strong, where weaker than the last group she had battled earlier today. And both her and Terra were holding back in order to avoid killing Card Soldiers.

 _Crunch!_

Mostly.

Decking an unfortunate Card Soldier across his face with a strong right hook that took the soldier's helmet off before leaping back from a group of leaping Floods, Terra yelled, "I was tryin' to give her the benefit of the doubt!" Leaping forward while igniting his Keyblade with flames, Terra dispatched the Unversed Floods with a doubled handed swing. He seemed to be having more trouble with these monsters than Aqua, something he noticed much to his dismay.

Aqua was currently covered in a Barrier spell that deflected several fireballs from magic wielding Unversed, red in color and floating in the air. She then overloaded the Barrier spell, causing it to shatter and kill several Foot Soldiers upon impact. As she darted back from a charging Bruiser, Aqua retorted, "Stop giving every person the benefit of the doubt! I don't that Queen has smiled once in her life, _ever!"_

As Aqua was busy chiding Terra, the brunette in question quickly darted over to her to cover her back as best as he could as they withdrew. Using a Firaga that formed into existence at the tip of his Keyblade, he fired it into the ground with a bang, creating a thick dust cloud that helped to obscure him and Aqua. "Ok, I get it, I made a bad choice! Let's get going!" Terra exasperatedly said as he began to rush away from the Card Soldiers and Unversed as they quickly turned on one another while still try to locate Aqua and Terra in the dust cloud. The sounds of screams, clattering and clashing of weapons, and of soldiers and monsters dying filled the air.

The Queen of Hearts just kept throwing soldiers into the mix as she followed behind the mess, being carried on a portable throne by four Card Soldiers. "Kill them all! Off with all their heads, you imbeciles!" she raged furiously, face twisted into a disturbing expression of anger and hatred.

As Aqua and Terra bolted to get some distance between the remaining combatants and themselves, the bluenette immediately replied, "Oh, no, no, no! You didn't make a bad choice, you made a _terrabad_ choice!"

"That's not very funny!"

"It was to me!"

Even in the heat of battle, these two couldn't help to banter back and forth with one another.

The Firaga trick had given Aqua and Terra plenty of breathing room for now, giving them both enough time to create quite a bit of distance between them and their enemies. The Card Soldiers seemed to winning the fight with their Unversed opponents, although it was costly; the Queen of Hearts clearly didn't care though. As the sounds of battle both died down and got quieter, the duo began to pass by a humble looking house as they raced down the dirt roadway.

Aqua suddenly felt her mind's senses roared to life at the thick blanket of darkness coming from the house, making her come to a grinding halt as she doubled over. Looking over at the humble, simple looking house, Aqua knew _something_ was very wrong here. Why was a house the source of so much darkness and fear?

"Terra!" Aqua called out to her companion, the worry in her tone causing him slow to a trot and then come to a stop completely as he looked over his shoulder at Aqua. He noticed that she hadn't torn her gaze from the house on their right. It had her attention, for some reason.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at that…house?" Terra inquired as he looked over to further inspect the object of Aqua's attention. The house wasn't too large, with a white stone base that morphed into a wooden second story. The front door was circular in nature and pink in color, while the roof of the house was made of dense yellow straw. The front of the house also had two shutters on the second story, pink in color like the rest of the wood on the structure. A single stone chimney rose out of the roof, on the right side.

It looked too… _alive._

"The darkness is rolling off of it in waves, Terra. Somethings not right here," Aqua responded with a tone that radiated worry and concern.

"You little brats!" boomed the Queen of Hearts' voice as she and a troop of Card Soldiers arrived on the scene. Terra and Aqua quickly shifted back into combat stances as the Queen of Hearts glared hatefully at them both. "You will pay for your crimes against me and my kingdom!"

"Crimes!? You made them up! We're innocent and you're just too stubborn to admit it!" Aqua retorted hastily, making Terra glance at his friend in surprise. Aqua was normally polite even in dire situations, but she must have not taken kindly to the Queen of Hearts' efforts.

Terra might as well throw in his two cents, smirking as he looked at the Queen's reddened face and remarked, "I thought leaders were supposed to be wise, but you just come off as a toddler with too much power."

Before the Queen could boom an undoubtedly enraged response, a new voice broken into conversation. It was a female voice, full of fear, crying out for help. The voice was muffled and clearly originated from within the house. The two groups collectively looked in the direction of the house.

Now, the Queen was angry, but this time, at the White Rabbit. That was Alice's voice and it was coming from her servant's home! She growled in a low tone, saying, "That foul hare is hiding Alice within in his home! I'll behead him as well!"

Looking back at Terra and Aqua, she opened her mouth to say something to the Keyblade bearers, but she was rather rudely interrupted by a roar of hellish proportions. A roar that come from the White Rabbit's house!

As Aqua and Terra fought to remain on their feet, the Queen and her Cards were blow away by the furious winds of the roar and icy waves of black. The house was covered in the darkness it had once merely emanated, rapidly morphing into something new. Stone and wood splinter as they were moved and recreated into new shapes as the house itself grew bigger and bigger. It gained two blood red eyes set in an angry position as an Unversed symbol appear on its 'chest.' Aqua and Terra watched in mute awe and horror as the once humble house ballooned into an absolutely titanic Unversed.

As it's true form was revealed, Alcazar was easily the biggest creature that either Aqua or Terra had seen. While certainly not the most horrifying, it's sheer size was more than enough compensate for lack of a fear generating appearance. The house-shaped monster was roughly one hundred feet tall and fifty feet wide at its widest. Four spider-like, armored legs that end with sharp looking spikes hefted Alcazar up, while the bottom story of the house had molded into a massive, jagged maw of stone and timbers. The second story bore the face, red eyes burning with anger as the chimney had extended into a tail-like structure that flicked back and forth, smoke oozing out of it. Arms also grew out of the sides of the second story, made up of the straw that had once been the roof, ending with pink talons made of wood.

But what really caught the Terra and Aqua's attention was how the shutters opened to reveal an entryway to a dark core that covered a young, blonde hair girl whose face was twisted with terror. That was Alice!

The shutters snapped close as the huge creature howled furiously, bellowing a challenge to its opponents.

Aqua figured it out immediately. "It's…it's using Alice as a power source! Those black tendrils are draw energy from Alice, somehow!" Aqua managed to say as anger began to replace any trepidation. She gripped her Keyblade tightly, ready to spring into action.

Terra wanted to speak to Aqua, but Alcazar attacked immediately, rearing up its bulk before bringing it down in an attempt to smash the Keyblade bearers. Aqua quickly teleported away from the incoming attack while Terra dashed forward and under the monster. The impact from the spikes resulted in the front legs of Alcazar to impale the ground deeply, the ground shaking violently from being impaled. As Aqua reappeared behind Alcazar, she unleashed a Firaga aimed the back of the monster, throwing her left hand forward as an orange ball of flame belched from her palm, while Terra attacked the presumably soft underbelly with an Ars Solum.

Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't having their attacks bounce harmlessly off of the creature's incredibly durable skin. Terra struck the underbelly of Alcazar hard, with steel breaking force, but it was like striking one of Aqua's Barrier spells! He recoiled unwillingly, almost falling onto his back when muscular arms snapped back painfully over his head. The brunette felt like he had almost dislocated his arms!

Aqua, on the other hand, was nearly hit by her Firaga as it deflected off of the monster's back and sailed back at her. She gasped slightly before using her Keyblade to smack the incoming Firaga away, which sent it sailing into the forest. It struck a thick tree of old age, exploding with enough force to fracture the tree and send it toppling over, which took a couple of other trees along with it.

"Terra! It's too well armored, we have to try and strike the core!" Aqua said before Alcazar bounded into the air like a spring, landing quite some distance away. It nearly took Aqua out as it leapt away, but the bluenette stood her ground, despite being pelted with stones. Terra was clipped lightly by one of the hind legs, making him cry out in pain as he was flung into the air, falling back down onto his side. Even a glancing blow was absurdly powerful!

Rising to his feet, Terra staggered over to Aqua, who was already readying a Curaga, before the behemoth Unversed rotated around to face them. It opened its mouth, flames swirling within that impossibly wide maw. Terra's eyes widened in alarm as Alcazar unleashed a tidal wave of red flames with a shriek that incinerated trees, stone, even burning the ground! Moments before the fast moving wave would have washed over Aqua and Terra, likely causing serious or fatal damage, Aqua covered them both with a Barrier spell.

In seconds, the flames had passed over, but Aqua was covered in sweat at the strain of holding off such a huge assault. She quickly buckled onto one knee as she dry heaved, Terra calling out her name in alarm. Both of them were already exhausted in just a few seconds. The creature was faster than it looked and immensely powerful thanks to its sheer size alone.

As Alcazar began to advance towards its prey, Aqua managed to stop dry heave as she panted some, gathering enough power for a Curaga to heal Terra of his damage. Green light washed over them both as Aqua said, "It's really strong…"

"Yeah, n-no kidding…" Terra responded before growling in frustration. "How are we gonna get to the core? I know it's where Alice is, but it's all the way at the top of a one hundred foot tall thing!" The ground shook as Alcazar lumbered casually at its tired prey, Terra gritting his teeth grimly.

"And even if we can reach it, we'd have to open those stupid shutters! It's not gonna give us the time to do that when we can't even stun it…" Terra said, trying to think on what to do. They could use their Gliders to reach the shutters, but that left the issue of distracting or stunning Alcazar somehow.

Aqua was also running the possibilities through her mind, but they were running out of time. They didn't have much time before Alcazar would come after them again!

' _Oh yes, that it is! But it's a gift to be used later, for when Alice is in danger!'_

Aqua recalled the words of the Mad Hatter and moments later, an idea sprung into her mind. The cookie the Mad Hatter had given her was still in her pouch! She wondered if this is what the Mad Hatter could have meant. Had the quirky man _known_ about this monster house?

Fumbling for her pouch, Aqua said to her friend, "Terra, I have an idea. I don't know what it will do, but…" She trailed off as her left hand retrieved the small 'Eat Me!' cookie, which surprisingly wasn't smashed into powder after all of the fighting thus far.

Terra could only give Aqua a totally incredulous look. She had to be joking. There was no way in Hell that logical Aqua was saying that a cookie was the answer to their problems! She was supposed to be the cool and collected one who never did things out of blind faith.

"A…cookie!?"

"…yeah. The Mad Hatter gave it to me and said it could be—"

Alcazar came to a stop before Aqua and Terra, regarding them with its eyes as Terra practically screamed, interrupting Aqua, "This isn't the time to be having a snack or fuck around, Aqua! We're gonna die if we don't…!"

Aqua knew he was right, so without another word, she stuffed the small cookie into her mouth, rapidly chew it up and swallowing it. Even the huge monster before them seemed perplexed by what its opponent was doing. Terra felt his mouth drop open in shock before he managed to collect himself.

"…what the actual fuck, Aqua."

Meanwhile, the effect of the Eat Me! Cookie on Aqua's body was instantaneous. Her body felt like it was on fire and everything hurt. She tried to scream, but nothing came out of her suddenly parched throat. Terra could only watch as Aqua went onto all fours, free hand digging into the soft ground.

"Damn it, Aqua!" Terra yelled before he looked back at Alcazar, gripping Ends of the Earth as he stared at what was likely to be the cause of his death. All because Aqua was in agony from eating a _cookie!_ He definitely wasn't going to leave Aqua here to die because she was defenseless, but if they survived this, he swore he was going to slap some sense into her.

However, while Terra was too busy staring down Alcazar, the Unversed was watching its prey, the blue haired one, convulse. Something looked off about the woman to the Unversed; it was certain she had been smaller than the brunette male that was accompanying her.

Aqua could feel herself changing, growing in size. Her surroundings were rapidly shrinking as she began to tower over Terra. How he was unaware of what was happening to her was just as bewildering as the fact she was turning into a literal giant. Her clothing grew right along with her, she noted thankfully, while her skin, muscles, and bones grew in proportion. No one part of her body grew faster than the other.

Soon, Aqua's aggrandizement was complete. The Keyblade Master was a giant roughly forty feet tall. She blinked a few times as she looked at herself and her surroundings; Terra was so _tiny_ now compared to her.

Alcazar seemed uncertain on how to react or deal with this sudden development. It did take a few steps back to assess its prey again, which made Terra blurt out, "Huh? What is it doing?" He didn't understand why it wasn't finishing both him and Aqua off. As Alcazar backed off, Terra opted to check on Aqua.

When the brunette looked back over his shoulder, he felt all the color drain from his face. He actually dropped Ends of the Earth as he turned fully to face Aqua; his head tilted back as he was held captive by the fact Aqua was now a giant!

Somehow, he managed to speak.

"I…I guess a cookie was the answer."

Alcazar seemed to have done enough assessing at this point. It let out a tremendous scream, making Aqua look right at the monster and growl some. She grabbed Terra with her left hand, cupping him in her palm as she rolled to her right to avoid another blast of red fire. Rising to her full height, Aqua chastised Terra. "Stop gawking, Terra!"

Terra shook off the shock of seeing a forty foot tall Aqua. He quickly re-summoned his Keyblade and bound up to her left shoulder, using it as his perch. Aqua knew he would hold onto her straps as she lunged forward with a thrusting strike aimed at Alcazar's face.

Much to her joy, Aqua's increased size made an immediate difference. When Stormfall crunched between those fiery red eyes, the Unversed actually recoiled in pain, staggering back from the impressively strong blow. Terra was also overjoyed as Aqua immediate followed up her thrust with a Blizzaga, the air chilling around them before a blueish hunk of ice struck the Unversed again.

With a snarl, the monster sprung to life and counterattacked. Aqua's Keyblade was used to block a downward swing from one of Alcazar's arms, the impact hard enough that the ground before Aqua's feet fractured for roughly a mile. As she held off the Unversed, Aqua thought up a plan, unaware that Terra was also developing a plan.

Both were on the same train of thought.

"So, I'm thinking when you stun this guy, you can throw me at the shutters?" Terra inquired of his new giant sized friend. Letting out a cry and throwing off the huge arm of Alcazar in order to swiftly dodge a barrage of red fireballs from the chimney-tail, Aqua replied as she darted back, "You know me too well!"

Terra hung on for dear life as his ride rushed forward under a pair of claw swings, unleashing a Thundaga as she charged into the monster. Massive yellow bolts of light struck the titan repeatedly, allowing Aqua to immediately follow up with several more Keyblade strikes, spinning swings seamlessly mixing with thrusts and swings. As Alcazar managed to recover and push its massive bulk forward and shoulder check the bluenette back with a bang, Aqua flipped a few times before landing. The tail of the Unversed had managed to lash out now, striking Aqua across the face hard enough her head snapped to the left, with Terra saying, "Aqua!"

She gritted her teeth and recovered quickly. She had definitely gathered enough latent magical energy to activate a Command Style; namely, Spellweaver. A white aura surrounded Aqua as she began to float off of the ground. Terra had to shield his eyes as Aqua called on the power of her Command Style.

Her next series of assaults were brutal and unrelenting. She rushed forward and repeatedly pounded Alcazar with Keyblade strikes and small white energy balls. The Unversed could hardly handle Aqua's extremely aggressive attacks, driving the huge beast back with her attacks.

It didn't take long before Aqua activated the Finisher of her Command Style, pointing her Keyblade up into the sky as she began to rotate rapidly. Once again, Terra was holding on for dear life as waves of white magic twirled around Aqua and left cuts and burns all over Alcazar's armored hide. The damage had finally been too much for the huge Unversed, causing it to topple onto the ground. Its legs were sprawled haphazardly as the shutter doors opened above its eyes.

Coming to a halt, Aqua saw their chance to end this fight now. "Get ready, Terra!" Aqua warned as she reached with her left hand to grab the brunette. He had long since braced himself for what came next as Aqua pulled her arm back and threw the brunette right at the entrance way.

Wind howled past Terra as he rocketed through the air, guiding himself so he'd make it in. Successfully, Terra landed in front of the squirming black mass that held Alice captive. The blonde with light blue eyes was quite shocked at Terra's sudden appearance, crying out, "Please, help me! I don't want to spend another second in this horrible place!"

"I know you don't! I'm gonna help you, Alice!" Terra replied as he began to use Ends of the Earth to hack away at the base of the squirming, pulsating mass of black. As the teeth of his Keyblade hacked and sliced, Alcazar was screaming in agony as its power source was being torn from it.

Outside, Aqua watched the house monster buck and convulse as the light in its eyes seemed to dim, reflecting the great amount of pain it was experience. She knew, however, until his was fading back into darkness, this wasn't going to be over. She silently urged Terra to hurry up, gripping her Keyblade tightly.

Suddenly, Alcazar howled with rage, a blast of darkness erupting from the core Terra was hacking at. The wave threw Terra out of the core, the brunette letting out a drawn out scream of pain as he tumbled through the air. The shutters snapped shut with a bang as Terra landed at Aqua's feet, the bluenette asking, "Terra, are you ok?"

She never heard the answer because the Unversed snarled again, summoning belt-like Unversed, three in total, that appeared around Aqua's thighs and calves, pulling her legs together as they locked into place. Aqua was barely staying upright as she tried to wiggle free of the belt Unversed that were depriving her of her mobility.

That's when Alcazar lunged at her, slamming into her and making her crash upon her back painfully. The ground fractured under the combined impact of a one thousand ton human and a ten thousand ton monster, Aqua's huge form made a human-shaped crater in the ground. She struggled to hold back the monster's legs from impaling her with Stormfall, crying out to her only hope.

"Terra! Get these things off of me! Please!"

Terra didn't need to be motivated by the plea from Aqua to take action. Running in a dead sprint, the brunette leaped up onto Aqua's shin right above her ankle. His first target was right where he landed and he began to attack it with Ars Solum as sparks showered down from above as Alcazar's legs struck Stormfall repeatedly. As Terra's furious combination of strikes reached their apex, the first of the three red belt Unversed exploded into darkness.

Two left!

As he rushed to the second Unversed belt, several Bruisers appeared to impede his progress—or so they thought. Seeing Aqua in such great danger meant that Terra wasn't going to play around with these guys. Calculating his aim mid-run, Terra brought his Keyblade back with both hands.

There was a flash of light as Terra cut all four Bruisers and the belt Unversed down with a furiously powerful Zantetsuken. He had put a lot of power behind it, doing it quickly. It had been a bit sloppy, but Terra didn't have time to be perfect here.

There was one left, on Aqua's thighs were her bare skin was.

Using Aqua's kneecaps as a Launchpad, Terra was in the air as he brought his weapon down on the last Unversed. All his physical might went into this strike; combined with his downward motion, the result was quite predictable.

He sliced the belt apart.

"Now, Aqua!" he screamed over the roar of combat.

With her legs free, Aqua moved them into positon as Terra got out of the way. A second later, Alcazar was flying through the air, tumbling wildly. Eventually, it hit the ground head first, upside down as its legs kicked and flailed. The force was enough that the shutters came open again.

Terra, seeing this, charged over at the shutters. He covered ground quickly, knowing he needed to get Alice out of the literal Hell she was in. Lunging into the core once again, Terra opted for a more direct way of getting Alice free.

Without his Keyblade, he tore Alice free of the tendrils with his bare hands. He let out a roar as muscles contracted, biceps budging as Terra freed Alice from the darkness inside the beast.

Alcazar didn't even scream as it went totally limp. The huge monster began to fade into particles of darkness as Terra carried Alice out of the rapidly decaying body of Alcazar. He looked down at the shivering girl in his arms, smiling kindly as he said, "Hey, it's okay. You're safe now."

As Terra placed Alice onto her feet, the blonde nodded slowly as she replied, "I thought I was going to be there forever. It was so horrible…thank you. Thank you both so much!"

Meanwhile, Aqua moved to a kneeling position as she replied with jovial smile and tone, "Not a problem at all, ma'am. Terra and I were just doing what was right."

Alice smiled brightly at this, electing to retreat into the forest now that she had been freed. As Terra watched Alice go, it wasn't long before his attention was brought back to a titanic form of Aqua. She also looked at him, a small grin on her face.

Terra slowly rubbed the back of his head as he said, "So…huh…how are you feeling?" In all reality, he had never expected to see Aqua in a condition like this. And frankly, he was definitely not able to look at her face right now. Her…assets were trying quite hard to steal his attention.

Aqua hummed a moment before replying, starkly, "Larger than life."

"Well, you are like forty feet tall."

"It's rude to comment on a woman's size," Aqua retorted playfully as Terra flushed a red color. In reality, he wanted to comment at how good she looked even as a giant.

"Well, at least you're a good looking giant, right?" Terra dared to respond, making Aqua's eyes widen as her cheeks gained a rosy red color. She looked away from Terra, but it was really quite impossible to hide a blushing face at her current size!

Eventually, she replied, "Well…at least I can say I'm taller than you."

Terra frowned at this and replied, "For how lo—GAH!" Terra found himself being cut off when Aqua's suddenly went back to normal size, crashing on top of him as she squealed in surprise. It also resulted in Terra getting a face full of breasts.

For several seconds, no one moved.

But when Aqua finally did move, her face was a very bright shade of red. She rather hurriedly told Terra farewell and rushed off in a dead sprint.

But Terra, in his stupidity, couldn't stop thinking about how soft those breasts had been as he watched Aqua run off.

* * *

 **Well, finally, I got this chapter done! It took me a long time for me and my co-writer to create this, thanks to real life obligations, but I am so glad I got this done! Thank you so much for reading this story guys and for being so patient while I was working on this chapter! I hope it was everything you all had hoped for!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10: Talking Shadows**_

' _The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.'— Philip K. Dick_

* * *

Vanitas knew how anger felt. He knew how anger regularly flooded his veins with a hot feeling, while his heartbeat quickened, thundering within his chest. Anger was a strong feeling that could be controlled and turned into an instrument for success. This fact was something Vanitas had been taught and had learned. Master Xehanort had grilled this into his very being.

But right now, Vanitas wasn't feeling anger. Anger didn't cause him to scream to the heavens while smashing apart storm pillars in the _'Badlands'_ of the Keyblade Graveyard with his bare hands. It didn't cause him to willingly kill Unversed that spawned from his darkness, adding agony upon the feeling storming in his chest. It didn't make him burn through power so quickly, a tornado of darkness roaring around him.

Vanitas was feeling white, hot _rage_.

Vanitas roared with fury unlike any he had felt before as he brought his right fist into a boulder, which cracked and fractured apart under his mighty blow. Normally, this show of strength would impress even him, but right now, he couldn't focus on anything but this infectious hatred and rage.

Panting heavily, Vanitas surveyed the now ruined landscape around him, yellow eyes darting back and forth erratically. His left hand balled into a tight fist, blood oozing down from deep gashes in his flesh.

"That…goddamn meat puppet! He thinks he's so fuckin' smooth, like he deserves anything! I swear to God, to Kingdom Hearts, if Xehanort doesn't get that bastard as a new suit, I will _skin_ _ **him alive!"**_ Vanitas concluded with a scream, compressing the ground below him with an unrestrained burst of foul darkness. It was even more intense than usual from the being of pure darkness, which certainly quite impressive when taking in the fact he _was_ the embodiment of darkness.

He had never felt foul darkness, after all. _Ever!_

He needed to try and calm down. He was supposed to be reporting to Xehanort on the progress of Terra, Aqua, and Ventus soon; if he came rolling in with a cloud of miasma around his body and face contorted in fury, then Xehanort would likely start asking too many questions. Vanitas could _not_ afford to slip up here.

He could not lose Aqua because he threw a temper tantrum.

All because Terra was working to take what was rightfully Vanitas's. Aqua was never going to belong with Terra; he was a trash bag. And pretty girls with sound judgement would never lower themselves to being with someone so far down on the food chain.

"Tch…calm down, Vanitas. This is just a minor annoyance, so don't think about it," Vanitas told himself as he closed his eyes and flopped down into a sloppy sitting position. As he began to relax and think about Aqua, her light, the X-blade, the pain he had inflicted on others, and being complete, the darkness that coated him began to recede. Unversed pooled down onto the ground and then slithered back into his form. A sort of peace came back over Vanitas and he exhaled.

After his release of breath, he opened his eyes. He was back in control.

Now that he was no longer about to throw his plans to the wind and go kill Terra, he quickly began to gather his thoughts and the information he had learned thus far. He knew that Master Eraqus was still back on Land of Departure and had become fully aware of a certain blonde's disappearance. But he was hamstringed by his inability to communicate with his allies quickly enough: namely, he couldn't contact his students nor could he leave Land of Departure undefended. He could contact Yen Sid and Arthur, but that still left Aqua, Terra, and Ventus well in the dark.

Master Arthur has proven to be quite brutal: his home world was fairly secured because Vanitas was not willing to generate as powerful of Unversed as needed to bog down the Master in combat. Instead, he had bogged him down by attacking his subjects, making the King race from place to place to chase off the Unversed. Vanitas had no desire to face him in combat either, although he felt confident he could take the Keyblade Master on.

' _Still, I think I better get my X-blade before I try and tackle him…'_ Vanitas mused as he strolled over to a recently overturned boulder, bounding up to his seat and taking his perch.

Coming as no surprise to anyone, Ventus was a weak as ever. Sure, he had gotten a bit stronger, but unlike Terra and Aqua, who Vanitas had deliberately sent tougher Unversed after, Ventus was not gifted with such opponents. If Xehanort asked why Ventus wasn't improving at all, Vanitas would simply tell the old coot that the blonde wasn't showing any signs of improving, despite Vanitas's efforts to make him stronger. After all, he didn't want to kill Ventus accidently and mess up Xehanort's plan.

Thus, Vanitas would be setting himself up with a get-out-of-jail card for the future when and if Master Xehanort found out about his plans for Aqua.

Now, Terra was not showing any _positive_ signs for Xehanort's body swapping madness. While he was getting stronger, he wasn't succumbing to his inner darkness so easily. The reasons behind Terra's oddly strong resistance to his dark temptations was his extraordinarily strong bond with Aqua and his desire to prove to Master Eraqus that he was worthy of the title _Keyblade Master._ After all, the man was his father figure and the only Master who had shown faith in the brunette. And he was falling—no, he had fallen for, Vanitas admitted with disgust—head over heels for Aqua. Hell, Terra was even starting to show signs of channeling his darkness without it totally overtaking him!

Slow progress that could be reversed if given the right nudge, Vanitas did note with a bit of a sinister grin. He'd have to recommend to Xehanort that Terra needed a bit more _convincing_ and they'd have to weaken the bonded between Terra and his loved ones.

Then there came the one who mattered most to Vanitas. The bluenette that made his heart skip a few beats. She was his and only his; he would make it so.

Aqua was getting much stronger, faster than he had expected. She was like the unyielding steel of a battleship in her mentality. At this rate, the possibility of them joining as one and creating the key to everyone's salvation was going to arrive very, very soon. He already had plans to engage her in a fight to test her himself, but he knew he had to wait a bit longer before he could take her light all for himself. He definitely wanted to see what she was capable over; he lusted to see the depths of her power.

But then again, he lusted for a lot more than just her power.

Vanitas groaned a bit, shaking his head back and form rapidly. Now was not the time to think about those sorts of thoughts. He had to go and see Xehanort before the old man came looking for him. He was _not_ going to let the old Master engage him in conversation outside of when Vanitas felt ready. The Keyblade Master was far too observant to make a mistake in front of.

With a careless flick of his hand, Vanitas created a Corridor of Darkness to the cave where Xehanort had set up a base of operations of this dusty world. As the portal to the other side of the planet swirled into existence, Vanitas slipped from his sitting positon to the ground, casually walking to the portal. It was time to put his game face on.

In and out; it was just like that and Vanitas was outside of the rather darkness polluted cave that Xehanort had turned into a base of operations, a lab…a prison. It was everything Xehanort wanted it to be, of course.

He was just about ready to walk inside the cave to speak to Xehanort when he heard a voice that he had never heard before. Someone else was in there with that old coot? What in the hell was going on? Immediately, Vanitas repressed his power and inched to the mouth of the cave, staying up against the edge of the entrance. As whoever it was spoke, this voice did something Vanitas thought only Xehanort could accomplish.

It sent a chill of fear up his spine.

" **Heh, heh, heh. This is a brilliant idea. I love it! It's like I have always said, Xehanort. It's kill or be killed!"**

Vanitas felt his right eye twitch under his mask, while his teeth gritted. Vanitas didn't mind the idea of killing people or hurting others, but this guy or lady—he couldn't really tell with how distorted the voice was—took it a step too far. Why kill everything when you'd be left with nothing to rule? As Vanitas listened in on the conversation, he heard Xehanort reply to the voice's owner.

"Ah, you must control your desire to kill. After all, we have much grander plans than simple murder and chaos," Xehanort replied with his rough voice, seemingly amused but this person's overwhelming desire for killing. "That our plan sates your killing desires is merely a bonus to the greater scheme of things."

" **And that our plan gets us both what we really want is what matters, Xehanort. Golly, you'd better remember that! You've played the game long enough to know we ain't friends,"** the voice retorted quite promptly before cackling with a such sinister malice that Vanitas could only imagine the sort of nasty character he was going to have to deal with later. There was a pause before the voice concluded, **"We're just business partners. I ain't your puppet and you know it."**

"Indeed…we are partners in this endeavor. All three of us know what we must do to ensure the X-blade's creation. Vanitas knows his role as well; he will not fail us." Xehanort replied to the two other figures that were within the cave with him. Three people and the masked boy hadn't even heard of them once!? Vanitas knew Xehanort wasn't one to trust completely, but how far did this old man's reach go? How many people did he have employed in this Keyblade War plan?

Vanitas was going to have to tread very lightly…

As Xehanort dismissed whoever was in the cave with him, Vanitas elected to wait a good while before he'd go speak to the old man. It would be too suspicious to waltz in there right after he dismissed his 'partners.' He'd just have to deliver his message to Master Xehanort a bit later.

As Vanitas sulked away, his face contorted in anger as he thought, _'Just you_ _ **wait**_ _, old man. You're not the one who's gonna save this universe!'_

* * *

Land of Departure just wasn't the same without the laughter and faces of his students—with one now being a former student—Master Eraqus had concluded. With Terra and Aqua out trying to defend the worlds from darkness that was now trying to choke everything it touched and Ventus having run away, the old Master found the castle to be a rather lonely place.

Oh, how Eraqus wished he could rush off after Ventus and bring him back. While the blonde had shown remarkable leaps of improvement under his tutelage here, he was fair from really ready to face the horrors of the universe. He was naïve and young; while one couldn't learn everything about life via teaching alone, there was a certain stage where all people had to go out and be free.

Ventus was _not_ at that point in his young life. Aqua and Terra were still considerably older than him and had been training for far longer. And while Ventus wasn't weak, he was not as powerful as either of his peers. He was putting himself in danger; Eraqus knew this well. He also knew his young student had no idea what worry he had caused his Master, nor could he understand the worry he'd place on Aqua and Terra once they both learned Ventus was not under any protective care.

The blonde boy, without even realizing what he was doing, would be an ever-nagging distraction in the backs of his friend's minds. Something like that, while showing the capacity of love and friendship, was also a dangerous way to fight. Distractions caused slip ups.

And those could lead to death.

But, alas, Land of Departure could not be left unguarded. There was no one else to protect this safe haven from darkness aside from the experienced Master himself. But while Master Eraqus might be stuck on this world, he was not totally hapless.

As Eraqus entered the Great Hall, mind weighed down with Ventus's disappearance, he knew he had to try and contact his allies and friends. Sadly, he would be unable to contact Aqua and Terra. He had no technique to easily contact them, despite the powerful bonds they all held with one another. Until they either returned to Land of Departure or happened across one of the allies Eraqus could contact, they would be in the dark about Ventus.

The same went with Master Xehanort, due to his missing status. However, Master Eraqus was starting to feel more suspicious about his friend's sudden disappearance. Something didn't add up with the entire situation.

But the list of those he could reach out to was long. Master Eraqus could reach Master Arthur, Yen Sid, and a few other points of contact the Master had gained during his travels and own adventures of days past. While he was normally not one to break the rules, this time was wholly unique. Sitting back and staring at the approaching storm while doing nothing to prepare for it was unacceptable behavior of a Keyblade Master.

Finding himself standing before the pink crystal, Master Eraqus began to call on his powers to open a channel to Yen Sid.

* * *

 _ **Hello, hello everyone! I hope everyone has seen the new trailer for 2.8! I am so friggin' hyped up right now! It looks so damn awesome!**_

 _ **Anyways, excitement aside, it has been a long time since I posted a chapter. This one is much shorter than the last ones, but I can assure you the new few will be longer. I had to take a break from writing due to life forcing me to move again due to a furlough with the company I worked for. So I really do apologize for the massive delay!**_

 _ **I really appreciate all the reviews, favorites, and views this story has gotten thus far. I am really looking forward to continuing this story and I hope all of you enjoy it!**_

 _ **Thanks so much!**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Eleven: Keeping Faith**_

' _You have to stand up for some things in this world.'—Marjory Stoneman Douglas_

Aqua knew she should be out hunting down Unversed on this world she had just arrived in— _Enchanted Dominion_ , if her memory served correctly—that she should be defending the innocent people of this world from the savage beasts that seemed to be everywhere she went. Their numbers seemed to be nearly limitless and Aqua was positive that between her, Terra, and other defenders of innocent people, they had destroyed many thousands of the Unversed.

People needed her help; she was obligated to help them as much as she could.

But right now, as Aqua sat on a boulder near a fast running river, one knee drawn close to her body while she rested her chin on it, she couldn't quite focus on combat. Her mind was so _restless._

Neither the lush green grass, the fertile dirt, the mighty, silent oak trees so full and proud, nor the gentle breeze in the air could seem to shake Aqua out of her trance as her mind ran laps at a feverous pace. Her encounters with Terra on the bizarre world before this one—specifically the last few moments—were at the forefront of all thoughts. Now, she was questioning Terra's actions in the past. The moments of yesteryear and now had dug their talons deep into her mind, having no intentions of leaving. Those moments…they had whisked up the feelings that Aqua had elected to ignore and bottle up.

Brushing her right hand through her hair slowly as she nibbled at her lower lip, Aqua was grappling with so many feelings. She had been so _sure_ of what she wanted in her life. It had been so easy before! The goal to be become a Keyblade Master with her friends, the desire to be the best mage she could be, to protect the innocent, to be seen as more than just a 'pretty girl,' and to make her mother proud of her had been Aqua's driving goals her entire life.

But now, she struggled to wrap her mind around the fact that Terra might have—no, he _did_ have—feelings for her. They were feelings of more than friendship. Terra had fallen for his blue haired companion and fellow Keyblade bearer; he desired more. Had that been one of the reasons for why he wanted so much power?

' _Terra…are your feelings…are they real? Are they what helps to drive you, why you want to be so strong?'_ Aqua thought as she saw flashes of memories of days past in the backs of her eyelids as she closed her eyes. She groaned a bit as she hopefully thought, _'I don't think I'm that attractive, but are his feelings from lust or really more than that? Does he really…'_

There was a pause as her throat went dry and she found herself unable to say those few words to conclude that thought. She quickly shook her head back and forth to get her mind back on track.

Furthermore, Aqua also found she had begun to develop much stronger feelings for Terra. They had always had a close bond, like warriors in arms should, but now her heart was reaching for much more than that. Her heart fluttered when thinking about his smile and the way he treated her like an equal. She had begun to yearn for Terra. And she would be lying to herself if she didn't find Terra physically quite attractive.

But she saw him as more than those six pack abs she wanted to trace over with her fingers. Surely, he saw her as more than a pretty face after all of these years. Right?

She and Terra had cried together, bled together, fought together, and forgiven one another together. She had wanted to be a Keyblade Master with him long before Ventus had arrived into their family. They had done so much as a family, as friends. And now…

But what if she was being a fool? She and Terra were fighters. Would loving him and him loving her make them do more irrational things? Would it interfere with their duty against those who'd wish the worse on others? And while Master Eraqus had been an excellent teacher, he hadn't exactly touched on the subject of love in this context!

"So many conflicting emotions…stupid heart…!" Aqua muttered as she smacked her left fist against the boulder she was perched on with some force, but not enough to crack the boulder. She didn't know what feeling to settle on as logic and fiery passion clashed within the fabric of her mind. And right now, logic was slowly losing.

With a rather loud and frustrated grunt, Aqua hoped off of her perch, landing on both feet with that deft smoothness that anyone who knew her well had become extremely familiar with. She knew she was going to have to take time to clear her mind and really think things over, but that time was not now. This world needed her help.

After all, ever since she arrived, she had run into…well… _nothing._

That was beyond unnerving. Normally, she would have run into panicking civilians, people defending themselves from Unversed, or the evil people populating the world—maybe even that mysterious and creepy as hell masked boy. But here, she hadn't even seen a single Unversed! And usually, by now, they were mobbing on her like fat kids to the candy store.

Aqua snirked a bit at her below-the-belt humor, covering her pursed lips with gloved hand—although truthfully, there was no one to hide her half-formed smile from. Maybe the Unversed weren't quite that bad, but it was enough for it to matter to her.

As the Keyblade Master began to walk away from the pristine, sparkling lake, down the dirt road that seemed to lead to a grand castle, she had noted that the air of this world was sickeningly thick with magic. But not just _any_ sort of magic. It was the magic of an extremely powerful magic wielder with equally dark intent. She could feel an involuntary shudder; feeling the darkness this person had was bad enough, but it wasn't often one could feel the evil intent of the magic being used by said person as well.

It was a wholly new and unwanted feeling. It made this place of beauty feel dirty.

' _What in the world is going on here?'_ Aqua thought as she moved at quick walking pace, scanning the forested pathway around her for any signs of active, whether it might be enemy activity, friendly activity, or animal life. Surely, there had to be ample animal life in such a lush forest. There had to life in general here!

Much to her chagrin and worry, there was nothing. Not even insects pestered her. It was almost like the world's life was missing or hiding. Whatever the reason, it had to be linked to that tremendous negative energy Aqua was detecting.

And with how heightened this vile energy was, Aqua didn't find it hard to track it down. She would get some answers about what was going on around this place!

Little did Aqua know, she was going to get much more than she bargained for.

* * *

Smoke rose from the long stone bridge that lead to the King and Queen's castle, signs of a fierce struggle between good and evil. But while the struggle had been fierce, the outcome was not good for the valiant prince that Philip was.

His muscles burned from exertion, his arms feeling like they had lead weights attached to them. Breath that had once been controlled was now ragged, his chest heaving up and down as his lungs sought to desperately reinvigorate themselves with air. His was covered sweat, cuts of both fresh crimson and dried red, and bruises forming under his clothing from repeated blows. His black eyes still held determination to keep fighting, brown hair being blown by unnatural wind.

Prince Philip was finished; only a blow or two at best from collapsing or being killed—most likely the former in this desperate situation.

Prince Philip was far from being weak, but right now, the gap between himself and his opponent was just too tremendous. He had known he was fighting for the right, because this woman was pure evil. And he was also aware that she was powerful and he might not win. But the gap between them was unbelievable! Even with the fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather helping, Maleficent had brutally overpowered him.

Now, after swiftly rendering the three helper fairies unconscious around Philip with a blast of raw magic, the evil fairy was simply toying with Prince Philip.

Fair and green-skinned, Maleficent's shining, yellow eyes bored into Philip's black ones. Her head is topped with a black-horned headdress only served to make her all the more imposing. Her long, tattered black robe, which sported a purple trim and maroon edges, flared out, but that didn't impede in her combat it seemed. She carries a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip, through which she casts her spells.

Chuckling at her impending victory over Philip and the three fairies who had managed to resist her sleeping sleep, the dark fairy casually ran her right hand over the orb of the staff she was carrying, smirking deviously at Philip as she inquired mockingly, "Pray tell, did you truthfully believe you had the power to defeat me? You might have allowed the Princcess's heart to return to her, but it shall all be for naught."

Philip snarled angrily as his gripped his sword, preparing himself for a charge as he roared, "I will never stop trying, even if you break all my bones!" And with that, Philip charged with all his remaining strength, rushing at Maleficent in a foolhardy attempt to try and close the distance.

Maleficent, for her part, sighed dramatically, green and black flames surrounding her left hand while leveling it at the feeble boy before her. "If such is the case, then I will merely erase you in entirety." And with that, the evil fairy discharged a monstrous blast of green flames that consumed Philip's vision as it raced at him. Sliding to a halt, Philip prepared to defend himself, fully aware this blast was going to kill him.

Maleficent was forced to shield herself from her own attack as it exploded with a massive amount of force, sending a shockwave over the evil fairy and shattering the windows of the castle that were too weak to withstand the explosion. The light of explosion nearly blinded Maleficent, but soon the light faded and the heat lowered as angry flames licked at ruined stone. Much to the delight of the dark magic user, there was a large, fifty foot hole dividing the bridge into two pieces, separating the castle from any further intrusions.

Maleficent began to laugh heartily at the fact she had not only eliminated Prince Philip, but the three foolish fairies as well! There would be no more threats to her plans; her power was growing, thanks to the 'advice' from that old Keyblade Master Xehanort. While he thought he could play her for a fool, she was fully aware he was trying to use her as a back-up plan in case his own plans failed. She would crush him.

As Maleficent turned away from the dying flames, coughing caused her to freeze in place as her eyes widened. There was no way that Philip had survived her attack, even if the three fairies had somehow awakened to assist him! Spinning around swiftly, the evil fairy's eyes landed on someone she had been expecting to see soon after Terra had left the world so recklessly. It was the other Keyblade bearer Xehanort had informed her about.

' _Well, well, if it isn't Aqua. She practically overflows with magic and light…'_ Maleficent noted as she impassively watched Aqua stand between her and her recent opponents, a shining, translucent Barrier spell in a dome around herself, Philip, and the still unconscious fairies. As the Barrier spell dropped, Aqua swiftly made her way to Prince Philip, all while keep her guard up in case the evil woman across from her attacked again. Judging from that last attack, Aqua had all the reason to be on guard.

Aqua, after all, was face-to-face with easily the strongest opponent she had seen thus far. She was going to need all her skills she had honed and learned thus far to best this woman.

As Aqua reached Prince Philip, the still stunned Prince murmured, "W-Who…are you?" He was further stunted when a green energy washed over him Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, fully healing him of any damage he had taken from the fight with Maleficent. This healing magic was not lost on evil fairy as Aqua helped the Prince up to his feet with a smile as she replied, "I'm here to help. I don't have much time to explain, but my name is Aqua."

Prince Philip had seen plenty of people looking to deceive him, but the sheer honesty behind her words surprised him that he simply nodded. Aqua, seeing that Prince Philip believed her, smiled and stated, "Stay here; you've done enough. I promise, I will defeat this monster before us."

Before Prince Philip could answer, Aqua lowered her body a bit before leaping over the still smoldering chasm Maleficent's last attack had made upon detonating against Aqua's Barrier spell. Landing a metallic click, Aqua immediately summoned Stormfall in a flash of light, immediately noticing the smug smile appear on the evil being before. It was like she knew something and it amused her.

Before Aqua could speak, Maleficent said, "My, my, if it isn't the _valiant_ Aqua. It appears that Xehanort was right about you."

Aqua felt a chill rush up her spine. It wasn't that this woman knew Aqua's name, but how she had known it. Xehanort...now, Aqua felt like that Xehanort was involved in this whole mess a lot more than merely his sudden disappearance.

For now, Aqua shook off the chill and replied, "It's starting to get a bit creepy how many people know my name before I run into them." She shifted into a defensive stance, just in case combat might erupt quickly. It seemed most evil people tended to posture, but one couldn't let their guard down regardless.

"Oh, I know more than just your name, Aqua. I know your friend Terra as well! He had such potent darkness within him," Maleficent replied, seeing with dark satisfaction the shock suddenly appearing on the blue haired mage's face. She then concluded sinisterly, "A darkness he fully embraced."

' _Darkness he fully embraced…?'_ Aqua thought as Terra was brought up in this conversation. Quickly, Aqua put two and two together, making her hand clench tightly on Stormfall as anger started to surge within her. It wasn't anger at Terra; it was growing fury at this cold hearted fiend before her. _'This…this must be the woman who manipulated Terra! This is monster he was talking about!"_

"You…you dare claim Terra embraced his darkness? Terra might be accepting it, but you used his weakness as tool! I heard it from him," Aqua suddenly snarled back as she leveled her now glowing Keyblade at the surprised Maleficent. "You _will_ not talk about my friend like you know a damn thing about him!"

Well, it was plain as day to Maleficent that there would be no pulling strings on this girl, much like Xehanort had predicted. She was most stubborn. "Oh my, I can consider that nerve touched. A pity you don't have Terra's gift for obedience; nor can you see how easy it was for him!" Maleficent retorted as she called on her dark power, green and black magic flaring around her before erupting skyward, darkening the sky. Aqua growled as Maleficent continued. "Feel all the powers of Hell, _**girl!"**_

As Maleficent's voice became distorted and deeper, Aqua braced herself, already too late to stop the transformation of her opponent into something else.

As the foul darkness of Maleficent was released, creating an unnatural wind that whipped around Aqua's short hair and her sashes, both Prince Philip and Aqua watched in horror as the woman's form stretched and grew, shifting into a much more deadly form. Deadly claws replaced hands, and a jaw full of teeth replaced the smug face. Wings grew, along with a long, thick muscular tail. Finally, rearing back with a scream that echoed through the land, the transformation of the fairy into a massive black dragon with smoldering eyes and a purple belly was complete. As the dragon form of the fairy came crashing down onto its forelegs, Maleficent chuckled in a much deeper voice.

' _Huh. Mistakes have been made,'_ Aqua thought before the dragon's head snapped forward, jaw wide open for a devastating bite. Aqua was quick to react, teleporting before the jaws closed on her body with a resounding snap. She appeared to the left of the dragon's face, a chilly Blizzaga forming at her left fingertips. But before she could fire her counterattack, Aqua's peripheral vision caught the dragon's claw digits rushing up to grab her. Pivoting quickly, Aqua used the Blizzaga to throw off the aim of the offending claws, the blast of ice causing no real damage, but likely saving Aqua from a world of hurt.

Cartwheeling away, Aqua watched the dragon rear back up onto her hind legs, energy gathering at around the front leg's claws. Coming back down hard and fast, there was a magically empowered shockwave the caught Aqua just as she was recovering from her evasive maneuvers. The impact of the wave caused Aqua to cry out in pain as she was throw off her feet and impacted spine first into boulder. A raspy breath of agony rushed passed Aqua's lips as Maleficent launched forth with another bite.

But this time, Aqua unloaded with a new spell, something she hadn't fully perfected, but realized she didn't have time to test it out anymore. "Fire!" Aqua screamed as three Firaga's exploded from her shaking left hand, putting more power into each large reddish ball of flame than she originally planned. All three impacted the dragon's face, consecutive explosions earning Aqua a deep howl of pain as the black dragon staggered back, smoke rolling off her face. Not wanting to let the dragon to recover, Aqua scrambled to her feet, rushing at the dragon with a Barrier Surge.

However, Maleficent saw the incoming rush, flapping her wings and launched herself backwards while also belching a huge Dark Firaga from her mouth. Sliding to a halt, Aqua's Barrier spell once again saved her life. The Dark Firaga exploded powerfully against the Barrier spell, making Aqua grit her teeth painfully. The raw power of Maleficent was something to marvel at, without a doubt.

Quickly, the black dragon drove down at Aqua the moment she dropped her Barrier spell, moving at an incredible spell that befitting of such a large creature. Before Aqua could dart back from the incoming behemoth, Maleficent grabbed Aqua with her left hand, viciously throwing her away towards the castle. Aqua flew through a window with a shattering castle into the main hall of the castle, before bouncing a few times off the ground. She slid several more feet on the hard stone ground before finally coming to a stop.

Aqua didn't move for several seconds, eventually motivated by the howl of Maleficent as she charged down the bridge at full speed. The throw had hurt immensely, leaving Aqua stunned and injured badly. Groaning in pain, Aqua slowly got to her feet, back covered in skid marks that freely bled. Slivers of glass had impaled in hers arms and when Aqua tried to move her left arm, she hissed in pain.

' _Broken…!'_ Aqua thought as tears blurred her vision, knowing she had to fix her arm immediately. A Curaga was immediately used to heal Aqua of the most severe damage, but she was just going to have to deal with the glass embedded in her back, arms, and even her neck.

Moments after Aqua had healed her arm, the black dragon that was Maleficent exploded through the thick oak doors, snarling like a rabid animal—only to receive a furious barrage of rainbow colored orbs that struck her repeatedly in the face. Maleficent howled in pain as she thrashed around wildly, knocking over a couple of stone pillars as she was pummeled with six waves of attacks. Stone flew everywhere as a result, but Aqua was more than safe thanks to the temporary immunity her Shotlock had given her.

But temporary was the right word, so the moment Aqua landed, she was once again on the defensive as Maleficent roared, summoning two dozen beachball sized balls of green fire. Another roar prompted them to all take off at Aqua, homing on her angrily as she did her best to teleport and cartwheel around to avoid them. Explosions danced around Aqua as put her dodging talents to good use. Maleficent didn't make it easy, also belching forth a wave of green flames in addition to the homing balls of fire, igniting the floor in flames.

Bouncing off of the far wall, Aqua surrounded herself in flames as she launched herself forward, crashing to Maleficent's vulnerable face. Flames licked the beasts face, making her toss her head back and forth in an attempt to get Aqua away from her. Aqua wisely withdrew before Maleficent could hurt her again, darting away from a claw swing as well.

" _ **Foolish girl…you have such a marvelous weapon, but know not how to truly use it,"**_ Maleficent mocked to the blue haired magic before performing a massive spin that nearly got Aqua, being close enough that Aqua could feel the wind from the tip of that extremely muscular tail. _**"Unlike Terra, who surely realizes power is the only absolute truth."**_

For a moment, Aqua lost her composure as she screamed back, voice breaking. "Shut up! Stop talking about Terra like you have a clue!" Immediately thereafter, Aqua unleashed another Triple Firaga on her opponent, who flapped her wings powerfully enough to blow the Firagas into the ceiling with a crescendo of crashes. But Aqua followed that attack up with a Graviga that caused Maleficent's head to be plowed into the ground with a crunch. The dragon shook off the pain she was feeling, snapping her head up and lunging forward. Her head-butt meet a defending Keyblade instead as Aqua blocked with Stormfall, but the huge bulk of Maleficent pushed Aqua back, the mage's heels digging into the stone as she gritted her teeth.

By now, Aqua was shaking from both anger and mounting exhaustion. Aqua was fighting at full steam alright, not holding back unlike she had before. After all, uncontrolled power was dangerous, but in this situation, she had to go all out. Sweat had drenched her body and bruises could be seen of the exposed patches of skin. Maleficent was extremely tough; Aqua was doing her best to win, however.

With a cry, Spellweaver activated, boosting Aqua's power for the time being. Aqua leapt up over the dragon's head, spinning and landing a series of spinning Keyblade that made the black dragon snarl. A particular vicious Keyblade strike caused Maleficent's head to snap to the left, but the dragon still had enough of her wits to slap Aqua down into the stone floor with a claw swing. Aqua landed roughly on her side, making her vision blur for a moment before she rolled away from snapping jaws.

" _ **Then I shall show you why Terra is always going to lust for power! And never shall he be satisfied until he achieves absolute power!"**_ Maleficent declared before she opened her mouth wide, a blue orb forming within her mouth. Aqua's eyes widened in horror as she immediately recognized the spell Maleficent was casting. Her mother had used it on a Behemoth once that had attacked their home to finish of the beast.

' _Ultima!'_ Aqua thought before she desperately raised her Barrier spell to defend herself, but the spell never formed completely. Moments later, there was a brilliant blue light that filled Aqua's vision. Her partly formed defensive means shattered under the monstrous attack, delivered at pointblank range. And then Aqua was in mind numbing torment as the raw magical power of the Ultima washed over her. Her body was burnt badly and her uniform mangled totally, sashes completely gone while her bell sleeves were also missing. Only one pink strap held on at this point, while Aqua's stomach was completely exposed.

Aqua found she was now embedded into the stone wall, head rolling as she barely managed to keep ahold of her Keyblade. She could hear Maleficent laughing at the pain she had inflicted on her opponent, who had been far stronger than the fairy had expected. Xehanort was definitely wrong about how weak this girl might be.

As Maleficent stalked forward, also showing signs of exhaustion as she took in deep gasps of air, Aqua pulled herself free of the wall, some stone crumbling off of the wall and scattering around Aqua as she landed on both feet. However, pain caused Aqua to crumple onto one knee, panting heavily.

" _ **I commend you for your efforts, but much like Terra, your fate is the same: failure! He was nothing but a pawn who desired power. I merely whispered to the darkness within him. So, am I to blame for his inability to control himself…or is he?"**_ Maleficent said as she lumbered forward to Aqua's prone form. Her words seemed to have no immediate effect on the seemingly defeated woman. But if one was to inspect Aqua closely, they could see her grip on Stormfall had increased massively, while her free hand was bleeding due to her fingernails digging into her palms.

Maleficent slowed down when she noticed a white aura surrounding Aqua as her temper flared considerably. She came to a complete halt when Aqua rose to her feet, shaking with contained rage. Sparks of white light began to arch off of Aqua, creating a deadly dazzling show of light. Aqua's head snapped up as her cold blue eyes stared into Maleficent's hateful yellow ones.

"I told you to stop taking about Terra like you know _anything!_ Your right, he does want power, but not because he's power hungry…" Aqua trailed off as she felt something new coming to the surface. It was a new strength and determination to silence the black dragon for good. Continuing as a massive purple blade swirled into existence over Stormfall, Aqua hissed, "He wants to use his power to protect people! To protect his friends from monsters like you!"

" _ **Protect his friends? Foolish girl; only power matters! Either you dominate others or you're a slave to someone stronger!"**_ Maleficent roared before she charged, mouth smoking as she opened her mouth wide to bite down on Aqua for the final time.

" _SHUT UP!"_ Aqua shrieked before she also lunged forward with renewed speed at the huge dragon, leaving a trail of energy behind her as she sought to defeat the black dragon once and for all. They met at the same time, jaws versus blade.

There was a flash and the sound of flesh parting.

And in one massive blow, Maleficent was defeat, head spinning off of the long neck of her dragon form, spraying crimson everywhere as her body convulsed. Aqua was drenched in the foul blood of the dragon she had defeated. Bladecharge disappeared as the body of the dragon crashed onto its belly, while Aqua let out a groan. Her world was spinning.

As Aqua felt her knees give out on her, exhaustion catching up to her, she could only think both a smug and joyous tone, _'That'll teach you for talking about my Terra that way…'_

* * *

 ** _Finally, a new chapter! I wanted this chapter to contain much more in it than last chapter, including a difficult fight against Dragon Maleficent! Also, Aqua did her best to keep faith in Terra, no matter what. She truly believes in her friend...or maybe...more than that? Poor girl is very confused still!_**

 ** _Thank you all for being so very patient. Life loves to make things hard on you, but you can also get so much stronger from mistakes. You might be bruised, you might be hurt, but you can't let it defeat you. The clock never stops ticking. Remember the past seconds as you look forward to the coming ones._**

 ** _I do appreciate all of my readers! Thank you so much for reading this story!_**


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